


Digital Media & Information Studies: Film and Television

by fardareismai



Category: When Calls the Heart (TV)
Genre: College AU, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Lots of family drama, girls as friends, lots of friend drama, tags to be added as chapters are written
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-04-07 03:48:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 48,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14072235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fardareismai/pseuds/fardareismai
Summary: When Calls The Heart College AU"A man is lucky if he is the first love of a woman, a woman is lucky if she is the last love of a man." ~Charles Dickens(Tags and rating subject to change, but probably not completely without warning)





	1. Honors Economics Seminar: Tightwaddery or The Good LIfe on a Dollar a Day

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter titles are the real names of real college courses that you can/could take somewhere in the good ol' US of A. The university life depicted in this fic is 100% based on my college career or the college career of people I know personally, so it's very American, hence so are my characters. Yes, I know the show is Canadian. I'm appropriating it 'cause I'm a jerk American and you can't do anything about it (nyah nyah nyah).
> 
> More to the point, because it's modern and (as I've mentioned) Americanized, our characters will not be quite the same as they are presented by our dear Hallmark Channel. Eventually there might even be smut (pre-marital even, le gasp!), but as it isn't written yet (and knowing me, might never manage to be written, I hate writing smut) we'll leave the rating where it is for now.
> 
> I do hope you enjoy this silly, silly thing that I've allowed to come spilling out of my pen... computer... brain.
> 
> Whatever.

 

As Jack Thornton added three books and a pre-printed instruction packet- all for the same class, of course- to his pile, he felt the familiar stomach-twist of financial anxiety. He had spent the entire summer working every lifeguard hour the YMCA would give him, and had thought he’d set aside more than enough money to hold him until he could find a campus job.  He’d made that calculation before he’d seen his book list, however, and was quickly jettisoning things from his mental list.

It wasn’t such a wrench to mark the bookstore’s poster sale off, only a slightly larger one to decide he couldn’t even afford the rain-damaged books at the off-campus bookstore, and Jesse would understand if Jack couldn’t bring anything fancier than a bag of ice to his “welcome back to school” party.

Jack had been carefully harboring the hope, however, that if he could get enough of his books used, he might be able to afford a new sketchpad and set of pastels- he’d seen them in the art supply store on his way in.  As he did the calculation in his head on his way to the business section, he decided he couldn’t get the large box of pastels, but if he could get his last book used, he might be able to get a smaller box.  There were still a few pages left in his last sketchbook, he could go a bit longer without replacing it, surely.

He couldn’t help but smile when he reached the shelf for ECON1014, Macroeconomics and Entrepreneurship, and saw that there was one book left, and it was used- it was his lucky day. Jack reached for it, laying his hand on the top at the same moment another hand came to rest on the front cover from the other side of the aisle.  He looked through the bookshelf to find a pair of wide blue eyes in a heart-shaped face, looking back at him in surprise.

“Oh, sorry,” the girl said, drawing her hand back from the front of the economics textbook as though it were suddenly on fire.  She glanced around and her eyebrows drew together, creating a line at the top of the bridge of her slightly-upturned nose.  “Is that the last copy of Professor Gowan’s book?”

Jack looked around as though another copy might magically appear out of the ether, then looked back to find that the girl he’d been talking to was already marching off, the textbook still sitting on the shelf.

He considered grabbing it and leaving her to her devices, but couldn’t quite bring himself to do it- she would need the book the same as he would, if she was taking the course as well so with a sigh Jack left the book on the shelf and hurried after the mysterious girl.

She wasn’t hard to catch up to as she was carrying an almost-unseemly number of books in her arms.

“Can I… give you a hand?” he asked, uncertainly.

She glanced at his own armload of books and shook her head.  “I can manage,” she said, and continued to weave her way through the other students, glancing into aisles of shelves until she seemed to find the one she wanted.

“Excuse me,” she said to a guy kneeling on the floor, pulling open a box of books and restocking a shelf.

The guy looked up and smiled at her.  Jack thought she was the sort of girl that guys just couldn’t help but smile at.

“The shelf for ECON1014 is empty, I was wondering if you knew if there were any more of Professor Gowan’s books in stock?” the girl asked, smiling back at the guy on the ground.

Jack noticed, not that he was looking, particularly, that it was an unusual smile- closed-mouthed and curling up more at the edges than was usual.  

“Gowan?” the bookstore worker said with a slight laugh.  “Yeah, I got more of that jerk’s books over there.” He gestured vaguely at the palate of book boxes blocking the other end of the aisle.  “I’ll look as soon as I’m done here, okay?”

“Thank you,” the girl said and took a step back out of his way to stand beside Jack.

This was Jack’s first real opportunity to look at her when not in motion- she was a few inches shorter than he was, and wearing a pink sundress which showed off a pair of pale, well-toned legs and matching pink sandals.  She smelled old-fashioned, Jack thought oddly, a bit like his grandmother’s house- lavender and rosemary- and he wondered why a girl her age would pick those scents.  

He wondered if they would be in the same Econ class.  Gowan taught several sections, so they probably weren’t, but it was always possible.

“I’m Jack,” he said after what was probably too long.

She turned those big blue eyes and oddly-curly smile on him, and for the first time her lips pulled away from her straight white teeth in a grin.  “Elizabeth,” she said.  She moved as if to shake his hand, but her arms were so laden with books that it was clear that would be folly.  She glanced down at her books then back up at him, grinned again, and shrugged.  “Nice to meet you, Jack.”

“Here’s old Gowan’s books,” the bookstore worker said, interrupting the pair of them.  “I might as well take them over to the shelf if it’s empty.”

“Oh no!” Elizabeth said, quickly.  “I can take them.  I didn’t mean to interrupt your work.”

Even as she said it, three books fell off the top of the stack in her arms and hit the floor.  As she bent to retrieve them, which caused several more books to fall, Jack had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing out loud at her.

“I’ll take them over,” he said, shifting his own books into one arm without incident and reaching for the box as Elizabeth finally rose, red-faced and flustered.  She followed him to the Econ shelves without a word, and Jack had a feeling she was regaining her composure as they walked.

Once back where they started, Jack began to unpack the box onto the shelf, feeling his heart drop as he noticed that every single book was brand new, and nearly half again the cost of the used book he’d intended to buy.  He was a gentleman though, and Elizabeth was buying twice the number of books he was.  He had just opened his mouth to say exactly that when she reached out and took one of the new books from the stack he had just made.

“Thanks for your help, Jack,” she said, gracing him with that odd smile again.

“Oh… don’t you want this one?” Jack asked, surprised, pointing at the used copy.  “It’s less expensive, and you’ve got a lot of books to buy.”

She shook her head.  “This one will be fine, thanks.  I should go though, my housemate is waiting for me.  See you around, maybe.”

“Yeah,” Jack said, even as she had already spun away.  “See you around,” he muttered, turning back to the bookshelf and taking the used book down, the butterflies that had been fluttering through his stomach seeming to have suddenly turned heavy and cold.

 _Rich Girl_ , he realized.  She hadn’t had to work her butt off all summer to afford her books, her daddy would pay for them.  She didn’t have to stay in one of the bleak, airless campus dorms so that her scholarships would help pay her housing, she had a house.

He was annoyed with himself for having noticed her curly smile, pretty legs, and lavender scent.  Jack Thornton had no business knowing how a girl like that smiled, or wanting that smile directed at him.

He turned on his heel and took off in the opposite direction toward the shelves holding the materials for the Fine Arts classes.  Rosie was over there, looking for her own books, and the pastels and sketchbooks as well. Much better to focus on Rosemary and art, and forget about Elizabeth and her books as quickly as possible.

Jack could only be pleased that they were unlikely to see each other again soon.

~?~?~?~?~

“Good  _Lord_ , Elizabeth,” Faith said, staring in disbelief at the number of books her friend carried up to the checkout desk.

Elizabeth sighed and rolled her eyes.  “You know my plan,” she said quietly.  “If I’m going to have my master’s degree in five years, it’s a minimum of eighteen credits per semester, and four in the summers.  Since this is my freshman year, and these are mostly Gen Eds, I figured I could go a little heavy here at the beginning so it’s not as overwhelming when I get to the last few classes.”

The two girls shuffled forward as the line moved.

“Are you planning to sleep, eat, or date any time in the next five years?” Faith asked.

“Yes, yes, and absolutely not,” Elizabeth answered tartly, studiously not glancing over her shoulder. Jack of the economics textbook would not still be standing where she’d left him anyway.

Faith glanced up from where she’d been sorting through Elizabeth’s books, one eyebrow raised.  “That was emphatic,” she said, a small smile tugging the corners of her mouth.

“I  _emphatically_  do not intend to date,” Elizabeth said.

“Hmmm,” was all Faith appeared to have to say, but she bent her head to the books again with a smile resting on her lips.  “Ah-hah!” she said after a moment, drawing Elizabeth’s psychology text from the pile. “Since we’re taking the same psych class, I was hoping you’d let me use your book.”

“Of course,” Elizabeth said, surprised.  “You’re welcome to it, but wouldn’t it be easier to have your own, especially considering our schedules?”  First-year nursing students were notoriously busy, after all.

Faith sighed.  “Yes, but I couldn’t find enough of my books used and something had to give.  Since you were going to have a copy of the psych book, it seemed the obvious thing.”

“You can use mine,” Elizabeth said, “but I think you should go get your own copy and let me buy it. Or, more accurately, you should let my father buy it.”

“I couldn’t-” Faith began, but Elizabeth cut her off.

“Of course you can. It’s not as though he will know the difference, and what is the point of having money at one’s disposal if one can’t help a friend?”  She glanced around with a sad smile.  “I’d buy everyone’s books if I could, but that’s a little beyond me.  I can buy your psych text though.”

“Are you sure?” Faith asked.

“One-hundred percent,” Elizabeth said with a grin.  “Give me your books, I’ll hold your place in line.”

Faith handed over the basked that she’d put her books in and dashed off, leaving Elizabeth alone in the crowd.  She wanted to open up her Early Childhood Education text and start reading, but she could scarcely move, so laden down with books was she.  

That left her nothing to do but daydream, and she was annoyed but unsurprised to find the subject of her daydream was Jack- he of the red university sweatshirt, gelled hair, and dimpled smile.

She wondered if he was an economics major.  She hadn’t bothered to sneak a look at his books to get an idea, and hadn’t bothered to ask, for which she was annoyed with herself.  Name, class, and major, wasn’t that what they always said?  Get those three pieces of information about everyone you meet.  Elizabeth had been too caught up in her own troubles to bother, but Jack hadn’t seemed interested in finding out anything about her either.

Perhaps he was unfriendly, Elizabeth thought.  Or perhaps he was shy.  She hoped it was the latter- he had a nice smile, and unfriendly people tended not to smile enough.

Or perhaps he was neither of those things and he’d thought she was stuck-up for not asking about him, which Elizabeth had to admit was a real possibility.  People had thought it of her before, particularly anyone who had met her mother or older sister, so Elizabeth had cultivated as friendly, sweet, and helpful a manner as possible.  It had all seemed to abandon her where Jack-of-the-economics-textbook was concerned, which annoyed her.

What annoyed her even more was the question of why she was annoyed.  She’d met the man for all of ten minutes and exchanged all of fifteen words with him, why should his opinion matter in the slightest?

“Next?”

Elizabeth looked up from her reverie to realize that she was next and Faith was nowhere to be found.

~?~?~?~?~

“I can’t believe you bought all of my books  _except_  psychology,” Faith said as the two girls walked together toward their house off campus laden down by heavy bags of books.  “That’s nearly $700 extra.  How are you going to explain that to your dad?”

Elizabeth shrugged.  “That’s my problem, not yours.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes and turned her face upward with a smile.  It was likely to be the last really warm day they got this year, and she was reveling in it.  She couldn’t revel for too long, otherwise she’d be burned to a crisp, but for the length of their walk home, she could wish she was a daisy who would eat sunshine for every meal.

“Would you look at that?” Faith said.

Elizabeth blinked her eyes open and followed Faith’s pointing finger to the bottom of the hill to a small field spread out before an ornamental pond where there were two teams of men playing soccer together, half of them wearing shirts, the other half not.

“Oh!” Elizabeth cried, looking away quickly and feeling her face go hot.

“Come on,” Faith said, tugging Elizabeth’s elbow, “I want a look!”

“Faith!” Elizabeth cried, scandalized.  “I can’t!”

“Looking is not dating,” Faith said, not even bothering to look back as she dragged Elizabeth down the hill.  “And besides, you haven’t started your classes yet.  No reason you can’t be a little distracted.”

“They’re not animals to be gawked at in a zoo!” Elizabeth hissed now that they were nearly close enough to the field to be heard.

“They wouldn’t be out in public if they didn’t want a few gawkers,” Faith said, pragmatically, setting her books down on the ground and leaning against the fence.  “You know how guys are.”

“You know I don’t,” Elizabeth, whose mother had sent her to an all-girls high school, muttered.

“Trust me then,” Faith said with a grin, “they don’t mind.”

Elizabeth couldn’t quite bring herself to watch the boys straight on like Faith was doing, but she did sneak some fascinated glances as she looked over at the pond as though it were the most interesting thing she had ever seen.  On one of these half-shy glances, however, she noticed something that made her forget her reticence.

“That’s Jack!” she said, shocked.

“Jack?  Which one?” Faith asked.

Elizabeth blushed and looked away again.  “The tall blonde on the… shirtless team.”

“Oh I see,” Faith said in a tone of voice that made Elizabeth shoot her a quelling glance that went completely ignored.  “Jack who, now?”

“I… don’t actually know,” Elizabeth stammered.  “I don’t really know him, we just… ran into each other in the bookstore earlier.”

“Well well,” Faith said. “I’d take your mysterious Jack with a bag of chips, if you know what I mean.”

Elizabeth didn’t, but Faith didn’t appear to need a response, so she ignored her friend and focused instead on looking at Jack while trying very hard not to look as though she was looking at Jack.

His chest was the same golden color as his face and arms, and he moved more freely without his shirt than he had with it, as though he were more used to having it off than on. He ran with the long-legged grace of a man who likes to run, and Elizabeth could imagine him tracking miles on a track, or in the early morning light on the sidewalk.

These musings were cut off by a body insinuating itself between Elizabeth and Faith and the soccer players- a mercifully-clothed body attached to a grinning face.

“Afternoon, ladies,” he said with a wink.  “Can I help you?”

“No!” Elizabeth said, quickly, hoping that this apparent awareness of their presence by the soccer players did not extend to Jack- that would be truly mortifying, being caught watching him half-dressed.  “We were just… going home.”  She gestured vaguely in the direction of their house and grinned like a maniac.

“Yes,” Faith said, sounding far less flustered.  “We came this way for the scenery, you know.”

The man laughed and offered a hand to Faith.  “Carson Shepherd.  Junior. Pre-med.”

Faith took his hand and shook.  “Faith Carter.  Freshman. Nursing.”

“Pleasure,” Carson said, then turned a raised brow at Elizabeth.

“Elizabeth Thatcher. Freshman.  Early Childhood Education,” she said, vaguely.

“Elizabeth here met one of your soccer friends,” Faith said quickly before Elizabeth could extract them from the situation.  “The blonde over there on the skins team.”

“Jack?” Carson asked, turning a speculative glance at Elizabeth.  “You have good taste, but you won’t have an easy time with him.”

“No!” Elizabeth said quickly.  “It’s not-”

“She didn’t catch his last name,” Faith continued over Elizabeth’s objections.

Carson grinned.  “Jack Thornton.  Sophomore.  Criminal Justice.  He’s here on a full-ride academic scholarship though, so he’s pretty focused on keeping his GPA up.”

“He and Elizabeth might get along then- her plan is to be out in five years with her master’s.   _She doesn’t date_ ,” Faith added in a stage whisper.  “I do though!” she continued in her normal tone.

Elizabeth sighed and grabbed Faith’s elbow and tugged her down the road.

“It was very nice to meet you, Carson,” she said over her shoulder, “but Faith and I need to go home right this instant before I commit assault in public.”

Carson grinned and waved to the pair of them.  “See you around then!”

After a few minutes, Faith stopped struggling against Elizabeth and fell into step instead. Neither girl noticed Carson go up to Jack and point the pair of them out.


	2. RECR2007: Group Dynamics, Formation, and Development

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I didn't do it in the first chapter, a mea culpa to the most important person in my life: WhoLockGal.  She is the reason these chapters aren't incoherent (and I haven't called Elizabeth either "Emma" or "Elizabeth Bennet" both mistakes I've made at least once during the writing).  WLG, we've jumped so many ships together, it's probably only suitable that we're now "Hearties."  XOXO
> 
> As for the rest of you, I ask you to enjoy this chapter, and have a wonderful Fanfiction Friday!

"Elizabeth? Faith?" A voice echoed through the house from the entryway. "Do you mind if I come in?"

Elizabeth had been sitting in her room, composing an e-mail home (and trying to decide how to explain why her bookstore purchase was so much larger than expected) and was pleased for the distraction.

"Abigail?" she called, jumping out of her chair and rushing down the stairs to greet their landlady and neighbor. "It's your house, you hardly need to ask us if you can come in."

"I rent it to you," Abigail said, stepping inside the front door. "That makes it your house. This half, anyway. I never want to infringe on your privacy."

The girls rented half of a duplex from Abigail, who ran a cafe just off campus and lived in the other half. Neither girl could imagine a better landlady or neighbor.

"I know it was your first day on campus, so I thought you might have been too busy to make dinner," Abigail continued, pushing two warm t-shirt bags into Elizabeth's hands, "so I thought I'd bring you over some, just to be sure you're eating."

"If you bring food, our door is always open to you," Faith said from the top of the stairs.

Elizabeth took a deep breath of the steam coming from the bags. "Particularly your chicken pot pie," she agreed, rolling her eyes back in ecstasy. "Come on, let's take it to the kitchen."

"Oh, I just wanted to drop it off with you," Abigail said, quickly. "You girls don't want me hanging around and-"

"Oh don't be silly," Elizabeth said, cutting her off. "We love having you here."

"And besides, don't you want to hear about the boy Elizabeth met on campus today?" Faith asked.

That stopped Abigail in her tracks. She looked between the two girls for a moment, finally settling on Elizabeth. "Boy?"

Elizabeth sighed, rolled her eyes and stormed into the kitchen. "I did not meet him," she called back over her shoulder. "I barely exchanged a dozen words with him. Faith got all the information we actually know about him, and from a third party no less."

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much," Faith quoted in an undertone to Abigail. She raised her eyebrows and cocked her head toward the kitchen in a clear invitation to join her.

"This I've got to hear," Abigail agreed and followed Faith in. "Elizabeth, darling, the oven's on too high. You'll burn the pot pie rather than just re-warming it."

~?~?~?~?~

Grabbing a beer out of the cooler, Jack joined Rosemary, Doug, and Carson around the table in Jesse's backyard.

"What?" he asked, realizing that all three were looking at him expectantly.

"'What' he asks," Rosemary said, rolling her eyes to the heavens as though praying for patience. "Do you think I'm shirking my responsibilities by being here instead of helping my new freshmen move in for my health?"

"Yes," Jack said, simply. "If you spend another minute with the new class of theatre majors, you would probably explode in frustration."

Rosemary made a face at him, but shrugged to concede his point. "Maybe, but even more important than my dubious sanity is your potential sex life, Jack. Tell us about the girl!"

Jack's face went suspiciously blank. "Girl?"

Carson grinned. "Miss Thatcher of the long brown hair and short pink dress. Eleanor, was it?"

"Elizabeth," Jack corrected automatically, then winced as Carson crowed in triumph.

"Elizabeth," Rosemary repeated, speculatively. "So tell us about this Elizabeth."

"I don't know anything about her," Jack said stiffly. "I barely spoke to her."

"She's a first-year, Early Childhood Education major," Carson filled in. "She and her roommate Faith live in a house to the east of campus."

"Maybe you should be asking Carson what she's like then, he has clearly spent more time with her than I have," Jack said.

"It's not me she asked about," Carson said, shaking his head.

"If the story you told me earlier is true, she didn't ask about me, her roommate did," Jack said.

"Oh don't be dense, Jack," Rosemary said exasperated. "If her roommate asked, that means Elizabeth told her about you, which means she's talking about you! You do make an impression."

"I don't want to make an impression. Not on Elizabeth Thatcher or anyone else," Jack said, slamming his beer bottle down so hard on the table that some of the contents slopped out and over his hand. "I just want to study, and take my classes and get out of here as fast as possible and get on with the rest of my life!"

The three at the table sat staring at him in silence for a very long, tense moment.

"Right," Doug said, pushing himself away from the table. "Right well... glad to know that this whole 'social' aspect of college is so important to you, Jack. I'll try to avoid distracting you from your studies in future."

"Doug!" Jack said, suddenly contrite. "Hey, buddy, come back here, I-"

"Let him go, Jack," Carson said quietly.

Jack stared at Carson and Rosemary, silently begging them to understand. "You guys know I didn't mean it like that, don't you?" he pleaded.

Rosemary sighed and looked at her watch. "I should get back to the dorm soon. I'll see you guys at the club fair tomorrow?"

"Count me in," Carson said.

Rosemary didn't wait for Jack's nod before she left.

"I'm sorry, Carson," Jack muttered, staring at the table top. "I really didn't mean it like that."

"You can be a real ass sometimes, Thornton," Carson said, "but I know you didn't. You can make it up to me by telling me what you've got against dating and girls anyway. Why not even try?"

"I don't have anything against dating or girls, or dating girls," Jack said wearily. "I know I sounded like an ass, but you know how important it is that my GPA doesn't drop. I can't afford distractions."

"Given what you were saying earlier about her books and her friend said about her plans to graduate early, your Elizabeth seems like a pretty studious lady," Carson argued. "She might be good for your study habits, and it might not do you too much harm to get out of your own head sometimes, Jack. Remember what you were like after finals last year?"

Jack remembered- pale, unshaven, purple-eyed from lack of sleep, and hollow-cheeked from skipping meals, he'd looked like a creature of nightmares in his own mirror.

"Think about it, Carson," Jack said with a sigh. "What kind of a girl has a house off-campus her first semester? What kind of girl picks a new textbook when a used one is available?"

"Are you honestly telling me this is a money thing?" Carson asked, looking irritated. "You are seriously going to have to get over that, Jack. Nobody but you gives a crap that you're here on a scholarship."

"You and Rosemary don't," Jack conceded, "but you said Elizabeth's last name is Thatcher? Like Thatcher Hall in the business college?"

"It's really not that uncommon a name-"

"If you honestly think a legacy girl is going to be impressed with a scholarship boy, you've been watching too many romantic comedies, Carson," Jack concluded.

Carson sighed. "Honestly, Jack? I'm pretty sure it's you who's watching too many movies, but sure. Blow your chance with the babe if you want. It's your pride."

~?~?~?~?~

"I can't afford distractions," Elizabeth said, setting cups of hot chocolate in front of Faith and Abigail before settling down across from them with her own. "Not if I want to be done in five years like I planned."

"Carson said that he's on an academic scholarship," Faith reminded her. "Sounds like he's no slouch in the brains department."

"He does seem rather dedicated," Abigail agreed. "Any time he was in the cafe last year he'd be on his computer."

"Could have been watching cat videos," Elizabeth suggested with a shrug.

"No, when you run a place that serves coffee until 2 AM, you learn the difference between someone fooling around on Facebook and someone actually working," Abigail said.

Elizabeth had to grant that was a good point.

"He's really good-looking, Elizabeth," Faith said, cajolingly.

"Yes, very handsome," Abigail agreed.

"What is it with you two?" Elizabeth asked, staring between the pair of them. "Why are you so quick to pair me off? Do I seem desperate or something?"

"No!" both Faith and Abigail cried together.

"So what is it? You guys are pushing Jack Thornton on me like you think he's my last chance! This isn't 1910! A girl can get well past her twenties before she's on the shelf!"

Faith sighed. "I'm sorry Elizabeth. I'm just worried because you've never had a chance to do anything with boys, and you've decided you're not even going to consider your first opportunity!"

"It's not even just a matter of boys, my dear," Abigail said, reaching out and patting Elizabeth's hand. "There is so much to your college experience beyond academics you know. I don't want you missing out on everything this time in your life has to offer just because you're so determined to meet this deadline to set for yourself. Isn't there anything else that you want out of your time here besides your degrees?"

Elizabeth sat in silence for a few minutes. "I hadn't really given it much thought," she said quietly after a time. "I don't even know what my options are."

Abigail smiled at Elizabeth. "Tomorrow is the club fair. You should go. There might not be anything there that you want to join, but at least then you'll know your options."

~?~?~?~?~

The club fair wound its way through the student union and out into the courtyard surrounding it. To Elizabeth's eye, there was no rhyme or reason to the organization, and it made her feel itchy under the skin, wanting to sort everyone into clear groups- academic, athletic, activist, altruistic, assorted.

Faith seemed to have a better grasp of the whole thing, however, and dragged Elizabeth from table to table, inviting the members of the organizations to make their cases to her, and expounding on them once the proscribed spiel was over.

"You like exercise, Elizabeth," she said as they looked at the options at one table. "You've said you thought you might start running once we were in school, to go with yoga and swimming."

Elizabeth frowned at the running club's schedule. "Not all of these times work for me."

The girl behind the table smiled and shrugged. "We're not a very formal group. You can come to as many or as few of the runs as you want- and if you feel like one of the routes is going to be too tough for you, you don't have to come, or you can drop out. We're going to start training for a 5k, but you don't even have to want to run one to join us. Go ahead and take a schedule and join us if you like!"

"Thanks," Elizabeth said, tucking the schedule into a folder she had brought for the purpose.

Faith had a bag bulging with pamphlets and flyers. She had taken one from every single table they'd stopped at including, Elizabeth was amused to notice, the three fraternity tables they had visited by mistake. Elizabeth thought, if she were planning it, Greek Life would all be together, perhaps in a place of prominence since it was the most popular university extra-curricular.

"Ooh, this looks right up your alley, Elizabeth," Faith said, grabbing her hand and tugging her toward a table with Spanish and Mexican flags displayed at the front.

"Spanish Club" the sign read and underneath "Club de Español."

They had passed a few language clubs already, but Elizabeth had no interest in German, and between her high school studies and her mother's yearly vacation to Provence, Elizabeth was conversationally fluent in French already.

Spanish, on the other hand, did interest Elizabeth. Ever since she had decided to become a teacher, she had cursed herself for studying French rather than Spanish. What good would French do her when the most common non-English language in the country was Spanish?

For once, she allowed Faith to lead her somewhere with good grace.

"I don't speak any Spanish," she admitted when the boy at the table turned his attention on her. "But I will be taking intro this semester."

"Then you should absolutely join," he said with a grin, dimples popping out in his cheeks. "We don't mind any level of fluency, and we'll give you an opportunity to practice. They say the best way to learn any language is to speak it as often as possible, even if you do it badly!"

Elizabeth couldn't help but smile back. "That's true though, I learned to speak French with trips to France and forcing myself to speak with the locals. I got laughed at quite a lot, but I learned a lot too."

"Yes, that's what happened when I studied abroad in Argentina as well," he said. "And don't worry, if you know French, Spanish is just a step or two removed. I think it's actually easier. You'll do great in Intro. That's with Miguel Rogers, right?"

"Professor Rogers, yes," Elizabeth said.

"He'll ask you to call him Miguel, he likes things informal. I'm Charles, by the way." He held out a hand to her.

"Elizabeth," she said, taking it. "Thatcher."

That name gave Charles pause. "Thatcher as in Thatcher Hall?"

Elizabeth's smile went very bright and slightly brittle. "It's a very common name."

Charles didn't look entirely convinced, but didn't press the matter. "Well, you should have a schedule, and a piece of chocolate," he said, picking up both and handing them to her. "Our first get-to-know-you meeting is next Tuesday, and then starting that Thursday and every other Thursday after are our normal meetings. I hope to see you there, Elizabeth Thatcher."

Elizabeth nodded and looped her arm through Faith's to lead her away as three more people came to talk to Charles about Spanish club.

"I should never have come to this school," Elizabeth muttered to Faith. "I know they only offered me the scholarship because of the family legacy. I should have gone somewhere else where they'd never even heard of the name Thatcher."

"Pretty sure that's not how scholarships work," Faith said, "but more importantly, if you hadn't come here, you and I wouldn't be living together and we'd never have gotten to meet Abigail, and if you tell me you'd prefer that, I'll be very angry with you."

Elizabeth laughed and leaned her head on Faith's shoulder. "No, of course I wouldn't prefer that," she said, grinning. "I do wish my name wasn't quite so notorious here."

"Don't be silly," Faith said soothingly. "It's like you said before, 'Thatcher' is a common enough name. There's no reason in the world that anyone would know who you-"

"Elizabeth Thatcher!"

Both girls jumped and turned to find another girl bearing down on them dressed in a white t-shirt and black skirt, having apparently separated herself from a group of girls dressed near-identically behind her.

She reached the pair and stared avidly at Elizabeth. "You are Elizabeth Thatcher, right?" she asked. "I was given your name and a photo, but you can never be sure."

"I... am," Elizabeth said, completely wrong-footed. "And this is my housemate, Faith Carter," she added, pulling Faith, who seemed to want to fade into the background, forward.

The girl grinned brightly and offered a hand first to Elizabeth and then to Faith, chattering all the while.

"I'm Brooke Hammond, chapter president of the Lambda Tau Delta sorority," she said, taking Elizabeth's arm and trying to draw her closer to the table of similarly-dressed girls. "You'll know all about us, of course, from your sister, and your mother too! Viola told me to keep an eye out for you. Said you were a bit shy and might not come to the fair, but that you'd be around campus. We've several girls in the college of education who would have been able to find you!"

"Oh," Elizabeth said, stopping and tugging to extract her arm from Brooke Hammond's grasp without looking horribly rude. "I'm so sorry if Viola bothered you, I thought I'd asked her not to. I don't think that I will be able to join a sorority, you see. It's just such a commitment of time, and I don't want to be too distracted from my studies."

Brooke stopped and stared at Elizabeth in disbelief.

"Your grandmother was one of the founding members of this chapter," she said, sounding suddenly very earnest. "You belong with the Lambdas. You're Elizabeth Thatcher!"

"You're Elizabeth Thatcher?"

The three girls turned together to find a fourth watching their conversation with interest.

"My life has become a Neil Simon play," Elizabeth muttered with a sigh.

The newest girl was looking at her carefully through blue eyes and out from under a sweeping fringe of blonde hair.

"Huh," she said, after a moment, "you're not quite what I expected." She offered her hand to Elizabeth. "I'm Rosemary Leveaux, I'm Jack's oldest friend."

Elizabeth blinked, surprised. "Jack?" she asked, even as she took Rosemary's hand automatically.

Rosemary frowned. "You are Elizabeth Thatcher, aren't you? Early childhood education?"

"Bookstore guy," Faith hissed.

"Oh... right... Jack," Elizabeth said. She glanced between Rosemary and Brooke for a moment, and seemed to select the lesser of two evils.

"Brooke," she said, turning to her with a bright smile, "I'm so sorry but I need to go with Rosemary now and... check on Jack. It was lovely to meet you, and I'll see you around sometime." She grabbed both Faith and Rosemary's arms and, with a quick wave at Brooke, steered the two other girls halfway across the room as quickly as possible.

Once they were far enough away from the Lambda's table, Elizabeth dropped the girls' arms and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Check on Jack?" Rosemary asked, one eyebrow raised and clearly biting her lip to keep from laughing.

Faith didn't bother, she doubled over and howled.

"I'm sorry," Elizabeth said with a half-laugh, half-sob. "I couldn't think of anything, but I had to get away from Brooke." She glanced over her shoulder and shook her head. "Oh I'm going to kill Viola for telling her to hunt me down. I told her I didn't want to join her precious sorority!"

Faith seemed to have brought herself somewhat under control and straightened to shake her head. "It's really cute that you think Viola ever listens to anything you say."

"I've heard of Viola Thatcher," Rosemary said, looking Elizabeth up and down. "So you are that Elizabeth Thatcher then?"

Elizabeth sighed. "For my sins, but don't hold it too much against me. I am the bane of my mother's existence."

"Oh?" Rosemary asked.

"Yes, Elizabeth came to school looking for an education, not a leg up into the New England social sphere," Faith said. "Very disappointing to Mama."

"I'm so sorry," Elizabeth said, suddenly remembering herself. "Obviously you know my name, and apparently my major, though I don't recall giving those to Jack in the ten words we exchanged at the bookstore, but this is Faith Carter, my housemate."

"Yes," Rosemary said with a grin, "freshman, nursing." She laughed at the two surprised faces. "Carson's a good friend too. You two made an impression."

Elizabeth sighed. "That wasn't really the intention."

Rosemary smiled. "No, I guess not." She glanced at her watch and her blue eyes went wide. "Oh, I've got to get back to my table, I was only supposed to have a 15 minute break and I've abandoned them for almost 30!"

"You're here representing a club?" Faith asked, suddenly keen. "Which one? We're trying to find the perfect fit for Elizabeth."

"But not the Lambdas?" Rosemary said with a sly grin.

"Definitely not," Elizabeth said, with Faith nodding beside her.

"I'm part of the Campus Life group," Rosemary said, gesturing at the largest table Elizabeth had seen yet, staffed by a diverse group. "I understand you two don't live on campus though."

"Is Campus Life only for people who live on campus?" Elizabeth asked.

"It's sort of a euphemism for dorm life, yeah," Rosemary said with a shrug. "Technically anyone is invited to the events, but most people don't feel like coming back to campus once they've left."

Faith laughed. "It's sweet that you think Elizabeth is ever going to leave. I think she plans to move into the library."

Elizabeth glared at her friend. "We really don't live far from campus. Just a block down from Abigail's Cafe- you know where that is?"

"Everyone knows where Abigail's is, she's kind of the campus surrogate mom. You're right though, that's not very far," Rosemary started leading them toward her table. "You'll never hear me tell anyone not to come to campus events though, so come get a schedule and a frisbee."

As the three girls made their way over to the table, Rosemary insinuated herself between Faith and Elizabeth.

"Are you okay Lizzie?" she asked in a low voice. "You look annoyed. You don't have to join a club if you don't want, you know. It's fine to just want to work. Admirable, even."

Elizabeth blinked. "Oh... no, that's not the problem. I don't know if I'll find a club for me, but this event just seems so... chaotic."

"Oh?" Rosemary asked, interested. "How so?"

"It's fine if you're just browsing, like Faith and I are, I suppose, but if you're looking for a specific group, you'll never find them," Elizabeth explained as they reached the table.

"And something like this," Elizabeth continued once Rosemary had checked in with her team and could give her her attention again. Elizabeth gestured at the Campus Life table. "Campus life should be in pride of place, first thing you see when you arrive at the fair, right? You guys should be set up right outside the student union, but you're back here, shoved in an awkward corner. Greek life should all be together, and probably in another important place- they're quite popular. Language clubs should be together, and religious clubs too... I don't know," Elizabeth said with a shrug, suddenly realizing she'd been speaking far too much. "I suppose it works."

"Actually it doesn't," Rosemary said, and one of her friends, who had been listening to Elizabeth, nodded.

"No," the girl said. "It's chaos every year. We've tried requesting a table front and center, like you said, but they insist that first-come-first-served is the only equitable way to do it." She smiled. "I'm Dottie."

"This is Liz," Rosemary said.

"Elizabeth," she corrected with a smile. "Is there some kind of organizing body for the event?"

"Yes," Dottie said. "Rosemary is on it, actually. I told her she should campaign to be president this year, but she's too busy."

"I might be willing if I knew my co-president were capable," Rosemary said, giving Elizabeth an appraising look.

Dottie turned her large brown eyes on Elizabeth, looking hopeful. "We don't usually have commuter students on the team, but it might offer an important additional perspective."

"Oh!" Elizabeth said, stepping back. "I don't... I don't know. It does seem... important, but... I don't want my schoolwork to suffer."

"Obviously not," Rosemary said tartly, "but we've all got classes. And we wouldn't start for a month or so, so you'd have plenty of time to figure out your schedules and everything. Have you found another club you want to join?"

"Honestly, Elizabeth," Faith said, shaking her head, "you'd enjoy this a lot more than Spanish Club, even if the president is nice-looking."

"Spanish Club... the president there is Charles Kensington, right?" Dottie asked, scrunching up her face in thought.

Elizabeth went suddenly pale, and Faith looked like she was biting her tongue.

"Charles... Kensington? As in... Kensington?" Elizabeth gasped.

Rosemary grinned. "Thought Elizabeth Thatcher might know that name."

Some dam seemed to break in Faith and she started laughing.

"You've avoided being introduced to Charles Kensington for ten years, Elizabeth!" she cried. "And now, not a week into university you go up and introduce yourself to him unprompted. Your mother would love that!"

"She will absolutely never know, and if she finds out, I'm going to put laxatives in your coffee," Elizabeth hissed at Faith, who appeared completely unafraid and continued giggling.

Elizabeth sighed. "I can't escape it. I'm dropping out of school, getting an online teaching certificate, and going to teach English to some virginal civilization hidden in the Himalayas. It's been fun, ladies."

She turned on her heel and ran smack into a wide chest wearing an uncomfortably familiar red university sweater, which had only been a few inches behind her.

"Hello Jack!" Rosemary trilled, laughter bubbling just under the surface of her voice. "I see you've re-initiated your acquaintance with Elizabeth. I don't think you've met her roommate Faith."

"Hel-lo Jack," Faith said in a manner specifically designed to fluster Elizabeth and Jack both. "I've heard so much about you."

Elizabeth wanted to bury her flaming face in her hands, but Jack had his hands on her upper arms to stop her falling.

"Elizabeth will be joining us on the Student Organizing Committee," Rosemary continued, apparently enjoying the whole scene immensely. "That is, assuming her dreams of teaching English to yaks doesn't come to fruition."

"It grows more desirable by the moment," Elizabeth seethed, which only made Faith and Rosemary laugh harder.

With effort, Elizabeth finally raised her eyes from the horse logo on the front of Jack's sweater up to his face, which she was comforted to see was tinged pink as well.

"You're on the committee as well?" she asked, unsure what else she could possibly say. "Nice to see you again" didn't seem to fit as this was one of the least-nice moments she could think of.

"Uh... yeah," Jack said, finally dropping his hands from her arms, and balling them into fists a couple of times before awkwardly shoving them into his pockets. "Rosie talked me into it my freshman year."

"She seems to have a gift for that," Elizabeth muttered.

That made Jack smile, and Elizabeth was annoyed to find that her stomach squirmed pleasurably at the sight of it.

"She does at that," he said. "I.. uh…"He seemed to want to continue to talk to break the awkwardness but couldn't think of anything to say.

"Faith and I rent our place from Abigail Stanton," Elizabeth said, grasping for some conversational gambit. "She says she knows you."

"Abigail!" Jack said, sounding pleased. "She's great! Saved our lives a few times during exams last year," he added, with a nod toward Rosemary.

"She has a terrible tendency to 'accidentally' bake too many biscuits or an extra pie at the end of the day and send it home with anyone who is still around at closing time to 'avoid waste," Rosemary agreed fondly

"That sounds like her," Faith said with a nod. "I'm Faith Carter, Elizabeth's best friend," she said, walking up to Jack and sticking out a hand. "You'll have heard of me."

"Uh, yeah," Jack stammered. "Carson mentioned you yesterday, but I'm afraid I've never... that is... I don't know..."

Faith laughed. "Oh don't overtax that mental list of yours, you wouldn't have heard my name before now, I'm not a Thatcher or Kensington or anything like that. My mom was Elizabeth's little sister's nanny, and she and I would hide out so we didn't have to play with the baby or Elizabeth's older sister. We've been friends ever since."

"A fact which might change very soon," Elizabeth grumbled with an exaggerated glare at her friend.

Faith patted Elizabeth paternally on the head. "There there, Elizabeth. You know you need me. You'd be terribly boring without me."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, but couldn't seem to help but smile.

"Jack is the same way," Rosemary said. "Without me or Carson to kick him in the butt on occasion, I suspect he'd never leave his books."

"I took Elizabeth to prom as my date," Faith said. "It was her first time in a co-ed school, and absolutely scandalized the nuns at her school, but we had a lovely time."

"Do you know? I think if those two decide to join forces, you and I may be doomed," Jack said offhandedly.

"I don't think there's anything hypothetical about it," Elizabeth said with a sigh. To her mortal embarrassment, her stomach chose that moment to growl it's annoyance at her having only fed it a handful of pieces of candy off of various organization tables.

She glanced over to find that Jack was studiously watching Faith and Rosemary talk while clearly biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing, and gave serious consideration to her Himalayas idea again before shaking her head and rallying. She was a Thatcher, and Thatchers did not melt.

"Come on, Faith," Elizabeth called. "Rosemary is here to do a job, we should stop bothering her. Besides, I'm hungry."

"Oh, that's a good idea!" Faith said, brightening. "We have to tell Abigail about your success. Student Organizing Committee, it's a big deal!"

"Yes," Rosemary said with a knowing grin, "I think Abigail will be very impressed. Don't forget your schedule, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth sighed but gave in to what appeared to be inevitability and took the schedule Rosemary was offering.

"I look forward to seeing you at our meetings, Lizzie," Rosemary said with a sly smile.

"Thanks, Rosemary," Elizabeth said, articulating carefully. "I look forward to being there."

"Do you want to come to lunch with us?" Faith asked Jack as Elizabeth turned away from the table. "You're welcome."

"Ah… thanks but I'm meant to be working the table here this afternoon with Rosie," Jack said, gesturing vaguely at the Campus Life table.

"Oh well, perhaps another time," Faith said brightly. "Or you could always come to dinner at our place or-"

"Thank you, Faith," Elizabeth said quellingly, and taking her friend's arm. "It's clearly well past time for us to go. It was lovely meeting you, Rosemary," she said. "And it was… good to see you again, Jack," she added, somewhat less-convincingly. "We'll see you around."

~?~?~?~?~

Rosemary and Jack watched the two freshman girls walk away together, dark head bent slightly toward gold, making a pretty contrast together as they disappeared into the crowd.

"Well I like her," Rosemary declared.

"Yes, I could tell," Jack said, not taking his eyes off the place where the two girls had vanished. "You two seemed on the verge of taking over the world together."

"Not Faith- well, Faith as well, she's lovely- but I was talking about Elizabeth. You have my permission to fall in love with her if you like."

Jack snorted and turned away to begin unnecessarily patting schedules into neat stacks on the table. "You're out of your mind, Rosemary," he said. "Elizabeth Thatcher wants nothing to do with Jack Thornton."

Rosemary smiled knowingly at the pink-tipped ear that was turned toward her but, for once in her life, said nothing. Jack wouldn't thank her for psychoanalyzing the fact that he hadn't said Jack Thornton wanted nothing to do with Elizabeth Thatcher, but Rosemary had seen Elizabeth's face when Jack had appeared. She knew inevitability when she saw it, and it would be far more entertaining to let the pair of them work it out themselves.


	3. ECON325: Econometrics and Efficiency

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **"Hey Wheel," I hear you ask, "is this silly fic of yours going to be a slow-burn?"**
> 
> **I answer, "of course it's not. The show couldn't manage to keep these idiots from going all heart-eyes for more than an hour, what gives you the idea I can go 10k words without it?"**
> 
> **(Today we have proof that I shouldn't write my authors' notes after several glasses of champagne...)**
> 
> **Happy Fanfiction Friday m'loves!**

By Wednesday of her first week of classes, Elizabeth was beginning to see the magnitude of the task she had set herself. She had, so far, received only syllabi and reading assignments, but she had, with each new syllabus, carefully copied each pertinent date into her sky blue leather-bound planner then, as soon as she had time, had conscientiously transferred them all into her computer calendar so she had them in both places. Each time Elizabeth looked at her schedule, she wondered how people managed it all as well as working and maintaining a social schedule. She felt like she would be working flat out just to keep up.

Wednesday had the benefit of only having two classes, but since they were both three hours long, it hardly counted as a light day.

Her first class was the Psychology lecture she and Faith shared, and half an hour before class, Elizabeth found Faith sitting in the courtyard in front of their lecture hall, eating a peanut butter sandwich and waiting for her.

"How's it going?" Elizabeth asked, dropping to the grass beside Faith and removing a sandwich from her own bag.

The two girls had managed to bump along in their shared living space without too many problems, except that they had quickly discovered that neither of them could cook. Elizabeth was a proper menace in the kitchen and scarcely had to walk into the room before the smoke alarm was going off. Faith was a little better and could boil water or toast bread without catching anything on fire about three times in five. They had been mostly living on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and Abigail's kindness since they'd moved in.

Faith shrugged. "It's not so bad. I begin to suspect we should have gotten campus meal plans to keep ourselves from dying to scurvy. Do you want to try to bake potatoes tonight? Mother says they're easy."

"Your mother said that grilled cheese would be easy," Elizabeth said around a bite of peanut butter. "You remember how that turned out."

Faith sighed. Their kitchen still smelled of smoke even after leaving the windows open for hours after the fire had been put out, and several applications of both Lysol and Febreeze.

"You're right though," Elizabeth sighed. "We should learn to cook somehow."

"Abigail would probably be willing to teach us," Faith suggested, though not without some hesitancy.

"Probably," Elizabeth agreed. "But who has the time?"

Faith nodded. "Do you suppose they'll keep us all three hours today, or just give us our syllabus and a chapter to read and send us on our way?"

"No idea," Elizabeth said. "I've only had one teacher give a lesson so far, but this is my first big lecture. Not sure if that'll make a difference."

"I have," Faith said. "The lesson didn't go to the end of the block, but he did get started."

"Here's hoping this class is similar," Elizabeth said. "I have two chapters in Early Childhood to read and a page of discussion questions to look over for my first class tomorrow, and if Economics goes all the way to the end of the block…"

"Oh, I'd forgotten this was your late night class," Faith said.

"Not  _late_ , necessarily," Elizabeth hedged. She hadn't wanted to take the class at all, but her major required the general education credits, and this economics course was the only one she'd been able to fit into her schedule. "It only goes to 7:30."

"It's starting to get dark an hour before that," Faith said. "Did you bring your car so you're not walking home in the dark?"

"Of course not," Elizabeth said, annoyed. "Given how bad the parking is on campus, I'd have to walk nearly the same distance to get to my car that I would to just get home."

Faith made a face but had to concede Elizabeth's point. "I could come up and walk you home," she suggested.

"I don't see how it's any better for you to walk to campus alone in the dark than for me to walk home alone in the dark," Elizabeth said tartly. "Having been somewhat less sheltered doesn't mean you're safe on the street either. I will be fine."

"I worry for you, Elizabeth."

"Don't," she said succinctly. "I will be fine. If I get scared, I'll call you or Abigail or an Uber."

"Promise?" Faith asked.

"Promise," Elizabeth said with a smile. "Come on, we should get in."

The two girls clambored to their feet together and took off across the courtyard to the lecture hall.

"It's not that I don't trust you you know," Faith said after a moment. "Or that I think you're stupid or naive or anything. I just…"

"Worry about me," Elizabeth filled in. "I know. Everyone worries about me. Mother, Father, Viola, you-"

"My mother, Abigail," Faith added.

"I am an adult though, and I'd like to think, not a stupid one," Elizabeth continued. "I just need you to trust me, okay?"

"Okay, I will," Faith said. "You do know it all comes from a place of love, right?"

Elizabeth smiled and wrapped an arm around her friend's waist. "Of course I do," she said, resting her head on Faith's shoulder. "And I love you back."

"Darn right you do!" Faith said, which made them both laugh as they entered the lecture hall together.

~?~?~?~?~

Jack was  _tired_.

He wondered what he had been thinking to schedule a class that went so late into the evening, particularly on a day that started with class at 8 AM.

"Stop yawning," Rosemary said, jabbing him in the ribs with her elbow. "You'll get everyone started and then we'll never stop."

Oh right, Jack thought, holding back a yawn manfully. Rosie had said she was taking the class, and it had seemed as good an excuse to mark this gen ed off his list of requirements as any other.

"Well would you look at that," Rosemary said in a tone that made it clear to Jack that something very dangerous to him was happening. "Elizabeth Thatcher, as I live and breathe."

_Of course_  it was Elizabeth Thatcher, Jack thought. He hadn't even considered the possibility since that first day in the bookstore, but given his luck where she was concerned, it only figured that she was here, in this class, with Rosemary perfectly capable of maneuvering the pair of them together.

That was, naturally, exactly what she was doing, in fact. Rosemary stood and waved to Elizabeth, calling her name.

Elizabeth stopped short of setting her books on a table at the front of the room, turned back, and smiled when she saw Rosemary, hurrying over to greet her.

"Rosemary!" she said with a bright grin. "It's so nice to see you!" The smile dimmed slightly when she saw who else was at the table. "Jack." she said with a nod at him.

"Join us," Rosemary said, gesturing to the two empty chairs at their table.

"Oh.. I wouldn't want to intrude," Elizabeth said, glancing at Jack again, and then back to Rosemary.

Wouldn't want to sit with her social inferiors, Jack thought uncharitably.

"We insist," Rosemary said. "Jack and I would be perfectly miserable if you didn't join us, isn't that right, Jack?"

Jack said nothing, just flipped open the cover of his notebook and dated the top of the first page, ready to start taking notes as soon as class started.

"I wouldn't want to make anyone miserable," Elizabeth said, though she sounded slightly miserable herself. "I'd love to join you. Will you excuse me a moment first though?"

Rosemary nodded and smiled as Elizabeth set down her books and bag, then hurried to the room's exit closest to the restrooms. As soon as she was out of sight, however, Rosemary turned to Jack and smacked him in the back of the head.

"What is your problem?" she hissed. "Why are you being so mean to Elizabeth?"

" _My_  problem?" Jack asked, rubbing the back of his head. "What's  _your_ problem? She obviously doesn't want to sit with us. Why did you insist?"

"You idiot. She obviously  _does_ want to sit with us but thinks you don't want her to because you've got that thundercloud hanging over your head. What do you have against her?"

"I don't want to be set up!" Jack whispered.

Rosemary hit him again, this time on his shoulder.

"Ow! Stop that!" he said, grabbing his shoulder and glaring at her.

"Elizabeth Thatcher is a nice girl and I like her," Rosemary said. "She is new to this school and can't possibly have many friends and I have invited her to sit with us in a class that we share with her. I have not proposed to her on your behalf. You will stop being an ass to her or I will never speak to you again."

"Promise?" Jack muttered.

Rosemary raised her hand to hit him again, and Jack flinched back.

"Okay, okay, sorry!" he said. "I'll be nice to Elizabeth."

"Good," Rosemary said as Elizabeth appeared at the entrance to the classroom again, a cup of vending machine coffee between her hands.

Elizabeth gave them both a tentative smile as she returned to their table and set her cup down.

"It's vile, I know," she said, nodding at the cup, "but if you put enough milk and sugar in, you  _almost_ can't tell."

"Almost," Jack agreed. He'd been trying to make a joke of it, but Elizabeth's blue eyes flickered to his and then back to the table, and her cheeks flamed suddenly.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "Maybe you like it. I didn't mean to insult-"

"No!" he said, kicking himself for screwing up again. Rosemary would never forgive him. "Sorry, that's not what I meant. I don't mean to sound like such a grouch today, I'm just tired. My first class was at 8 this morning."

"Goodness," she said, blue eyes going wide and meeting his again with surprise and sympathy writ clear in them. "You need this coffee more than I do. You're welcome to it if you want- I've only had the one other class today, I'm just an addict."

She smiled, the ends of her mouth curling up like a bow and making her eyes narrow slightly.

Jack smiled back. It would have taken a harder man than he was to resist those guileless eyes and that sweet, curly smile.

"I'm okay tonight," he said, "but I may take you up on it later in the semester."

Elizabeth's smile deepened. "Hopefully, later in the semester, I'll be clever enough to fill a thermos at home or Abigail's rather than depending on the vending machine."

"That would be smart," Rosemary agreed. "How is your first week going, Elizabeth?"

Those big blue eyes moved away from Jack leaving him feeling slightly breathless and bereft.

What was it about Elizabeth Thatcher? Jack wondered. He could have sworn he had a read on her that first day in the bookstore, but every subsequent conversation had made his foundations seem more and more like air.

A rich girl whose best friend was a poor girl, but without any apparent pity or obligation on either side- only pure affection. A Thatcher who seemed uninterested in trading on her name or legacy- Rosemary had told him about helping Elizabeth escape the Lambdas- and wasn't too proud to be talked into one of Rosemary's schemes. A girl friendly and generous enough to offer a freshly-purchased cup of coffee to someone who had given her no reason to be either one.

A woman whose big blue eyes and funny, curly smile made Jack's heart seem to skip and his stomach seem to twist. Whose subtly herbal, flowery smell made his mind wander to empty wildflower-filled meadows where the only interruptions were lazy bees and calming zephyr. Whose skin had made Jack's palms tingle as though electrically charged the one time he'd touched her.

Jack was beginning to think it was high time to re-evaluate his opinion of Elizabeth Thatcher.

This was, however, apparently not the moment as an older, white-haired man entered through the back of the hall, slamming the door behind him loud enough to make everybody in the room jump and turn to look at him.

He said nothing, only limped up to the lectern at the front of the class, rummaged briefly in his case, and drew out a sheaf of notes, which he set in front of him before looking up and sweeping the room with a gimlet eye.

"My name is Dr. Gowan," he began without preamble. "Not 'mister' and absolutely not 'Henry.'"

Jack, Rosemary, and Elizabeth all shared a wide-eyed look before returning their attention to Dr. Gowan.

"I trust that you have all purchased a copy of my book, and if you have not, you will need to do so post haste. The library has one copy which cannot be removed from the building, but you will need more access to the book than the library can provide. I move quickly through my lectures and I do not repeat myself. Any concept which you do not understand on the first pass will be explained in the book which you may review as many times as you like without wasting my time.

"I do not take attendance in this class," he continued. "Whether or not you appear is your own responsibility. That said, you cannot pass this course with the book alone, so anticipate failing if you cannot bring yourself to each and every lecture.

"My graduate assistant, Lee Coulter, will begin handing out your syllabus. As you have all been accepted at this prestigious institute of higher learning, I can only assume that you can all read and will therefore not waste my own time going over that document for you. I will note a few key points. There are exactly four grades in this course, each worth a quarter of your final grade: two papers, a midterm, and a final exam. I do not offer extensions, and I do not offer extra credit. There are no exceptions."

He swept the room with his cold, grey eyes once more. "Let's begin."

Rosemary, Elizabeth, and Jack looked at each other again in surprise as Dr. Gowan began to speak without delay, then each bent their heads to their notebooks to catch as much of his lecture as they could.

Jack had been taking university-level courses since he was a junior in high school and he had had teachers who were strict, or indifferent, or even ruthless, but he had never seen those three qualities so perfectly blended into one right bastard of a teacher until Dr. Henry Gowan.

He spoke without ceasing, without explaining, and without looking up. A few brave souls raised their hands during his lecture, but he never acknowledged them, and after a few minutes, the hands went down. By the end of the class, there was nothing but the scritch of pencils across paper to background the sound of Dr. Gowan's voice.

At exactly two minutes to seven-thirty, Dr. Gowan stopped speaking, tapped his notes back into a straight line, slid them into his briefcase, and left with a quick "I anticipate you will all be back next week," added as an afterthought over his shoulder.

The entire class seemed stunned for a moment after he had gone, then began to shift and pack up their books and notebooks, not speaking, none apparently quite sure what to say.

"Hey!"

The voice came from the front of the classroom, and everyone turned to see Lee Coulter, the GA at the front, looking a little sheepish.

"Sorry to hold you for another minute, especially on the first day, but I did want to let you know that my office hours are on the last page of the syllabus," he said, giving them all an awkward smile. "My cell phone number and e-mail address are there too," he continued, "and you're welcome to reach out to me at any time. I don't have my own office, and Dr. Gowan doesn't like me hosting office hours in his, so I've got one of the larger study rooms in the library. You guys are welcome at as many or as few of the hours as you want. Just thought I'd let you know before you head out tonight." He gave them another friendly smile. "You all did well today. Look forward to seeing you next week."

"That was… strange," Elizabeth said, sounding slightly vague as though she had been asleep for the last two hours rather than furiously taking notes.

Jack nodded.

"'Strange' is the word," Rosemary agreed.

The three sat in silent for a moment before Elizabeth shook her head as though to clear it and gave the other two a tense smile.

"I'm going to go," she said. "I'll see you around."

Even Jack couldn't object to this dismissal. The class had not felt like the sort that one could chat casually after.

"Do you mind walking back alone?" Rosemary asked Jack as Elizabeth packed her bag and left. "I'm going to need to speak to the GA, see if this class is really for me."

"That's fine," Jack said. "You sure you don't want me to wait for you?"

Rosemary smiled at him, the spell of Gowan's lecture finally beginning to lift.

"I'm not afraid of walking across campus at night, Jack," she said, warmly. "Besides, maybe I'll ask Mr. Lee Coulter to escort me."

Jack smiled back at her. "You're incorrigible, Rosie," he said, not without affection. "Alright, enjoy your chat with the handsome grad student. I'll see you tomorrow."

Jack packed his own bag, the strangeness of the class still buzzing in his brain. He didn't think he was going to enjoy this economics class, and was entirely certain he didn't like Dr. Gowan, but Jack wasn't a quitter. He'd remain in the class just to prove to himself that he could.

Sometimes, he thought to himself, unable to stop a wry smile, he was too stubborn for his own good.

The cool night air outside the lecture hall seemed to blow the remaining ill-ease out of his mind, and Jack took a deep breath of it. He looked up, as he always did when outdoors at night. The campus was too brightly lit to see much in the way of stars, but he could catch a few pinpricks.

The future cop in him was pleased that the bright lights helped keep the campus safe, but he did miss the stars when he was in the city.

He decided to call it 'cop's instinct' rather than anything more personal, when his eyes fell on a familiar figure walking slowly up the sidewalk, messenger bag thumping rhythmically against her leg, head down as though in thought.

He told himself he did it because she didn't appear to be keeping an eye out for herself. It was a safe campus, but that was no reason to be negligent.

"Elizabeth!" he called, raising a hand and taking off with a long, ground-eating stride in her direction.

She didn't respond, and Jack frowned. He wondered if she was ignoring him specifically- had he offended her again?- or if she were really paying as little attention as she seemed.

"Elizabeth!" he called again, breaking into a jog. Again she ignored him.

Finally he reached her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Elizabeth!" he said again.

She rounded on him, right hand balled into a fist with her keys threaded between her fingers, eyes wide and colorless in the unforgiving halogen lights.

"Oh!" she cried, lowering her hand quickly and pulling her headphones out of her ears. "Jack, I'm sorry. I didn't hear you."

"You really shouldn't walk alone at night with your headphones in. You obviously can't hear someone running up on you," Jack said, then wanted to bite his tongue straight away. He hadn't intended to sound so stern and lecturing.

"So it would seem," she said, nodding. "Why did you run up on me though?"

"I… uh… didn't like the thought of you walking home alone," he said, which was stupid, of course. He had just allowed Rosemary to do just that, but there was something about Elizabeth Thatcher that made Jack want to take care of her in a way he'd never felt about Rosemary. Perhaps it was the air of innocence about her, he wasn't sure, but something about her made him feel oddly protective.

"You don't need to do that," she said, and if Jack wasn't mistaken, there was a small note of disappointment in her voice. "I promise, I won't put my headphones back in, and I'll keep watch around me. Goodnight, Jack."

She turned and started up the sidewalk again, and Jack frowned after her for a moment before jogging a few steps to catch up to her and falling into step beside her.

She stopped and turned to face him, face deeply shadowed in the dim light, but set in stubborn lines that made Jack want to smile.

"I don't want you going out of your way for me," she said sharply.

"Who says this is out of my way?" he asked, carefully controlling his voice so she couldn't tell he was laughing at her. "What if my dorm is this direction?"

She opened her mouth to refute him, and then closed it again, narrowing her eyes at him suspiciously. "Is it?" she asked.

Jack couldn't hold back the smile anymore. "For all you know it is," he said. "And, that being the case, I'd much rather walk beside you than a few steps behind you, particularly as you walk slower than me."

"You could walk on ahead," Elizabeth said.

"I could," Jack agreed pleasantly. "But I'm not going to. So, are we going to continue on our way, or will we stand here arguing all night?"

Elizabeth seemed to give these options due consideration and then, after a moment, turned and resumed her walk east across campus, Jack falling in beside her.

"What did you think of Dr. Gowan?" Jack asked after a few minutes.

"I don't think I'm going to like him at all," Elizabeth said after a moment's consideration.

"No," Jack agreed. "Thinking of dropping the course?"

"No," Elizabeth said. "I don't want to fall behind in my schedule, so I'll see it through to the end. My mother says I'm stubborn."

Jack could hear the smile in her voice as she said this last.

"My mother says the same of me," he said. "Suppose we have that in common."

"Suppose," Elizabeth agreed.

"I'm going to stay in the class as well," Jack affirmed, though she hadn't asked.

"Then I suppose we will see each other a bit," Elizabeth said. "Will you mind if I sit with you, or should I find my own place?"

Jack's stomach tightened in shame remembering how he'd treated her. "No, of course you can sit with us," he assured her. "I'm sorry about the way I acted, it was-"

"It was nothing," she said, waving her hand as though to brush it away. "I'm sorry I bought it up again. I'm not so bad when I'm tired, but I'm downright impossible when I'm hungry. Which is a real problem as I can't cook."

Jack laughed softly.

"Now, I know your dorm can't possibly be in this direction anymore," Elizabeth said after a moment, "since we just passed the edge of campus."

"Maybe I'm going to Abigail's for a nightcap," Jack suggested, innocently.

"Is that so?" Elizabeth asked, and he could hear the amusement in her voice.

"Well why wouldn't I? Best pie in town," Jack said.

"I understand the special today is cherry peach pie," Elizabeth said, and he was sure she was smiling now.

Jack grinned into the darkness.

The pair continued to walk, reaching and then passing Abigail's cafe.

"Decided not to get pie?" Elizabeth asked.

"Gotta watch my figure," Jack said solemnly.

"And what else could possibly bring you out this way?" Elizabeth asked as they continued in step together.

"Maybe I just like the walk," Jack said. "It's a nice night, and a nice neighborhood, and it's a free country. Nothing to stop me walking this way any time I like."

"No, I suppose there isn't," Elizabeth agreed. "And how often does the mood to walk in this neighborhood strike you, approximately?"

"Oh… once a week or so," Jack said, offhand. "Maybe more, depending on the situation."

Elizabeth let out a soft laugh and shook her head.

"Well, we've reached my stop, but don't let that interrupt your lovely walk," she said.

Jack looked up at the house they stood before- a blue-painted, wood-slatted duplex with pretty bay windows on each side. The lights on the B side told Jack that was probably Elizabeth's home where Faith was waiting up for her.

"You know, I think this is the perfect distance for a walk," Jack proclaimed. "Just perfect."

For a long moment, the pair of them stood there on the sidewalk, looking at each other. Elizabeth lifted a hand, just for a moment, and then dropped it to her side again.

Jack wondered what she would have done with that hand, had she kept her nerve. Hugged him? Taken his hand? Pulled him in for a kiss?

It didn't matter, because whatever it had been, she had not done it.

"Well," she said after a moment, "I should go inside. Faith will be wondering where I am."

"I'm sure she will be," Jack said softly. "You'll give her my best?"

"Yes, of course." She turned away from him, and then stopped, her hand on the latch of the gate.

"Jack?" she said, voice wavering slightly.

"Yes, Elizabeth?"

"What side of campus is your dorm on, really?"

"The west side," Jack said, unwilling to lie.

She was silent for a long moment, and Jack wondered if she was going to yell at him for manipulating her. His stomach twisted as he waited.

"Okay," she said, softly, to Jack's utter surprise.

"Okay?" he asked, just to be sure she'd said what he thought.

"Yeah, okay. Goodnight, Jack."

"Goodnight, Elizabeth."


	4. UEM305: Emergency and Disaster Preparedness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suspect that many of you do not read these authors notes, but I still feel slightly obligated to explain the sudden tonal shift that this story takes in the next two chapters (fluff and college nonsense return in three weeks).
> 
> I started writing this story the day the Friday the first chapter was published, and proceeded to write almost nonstop for several days. On the Monday after I started, I had written three chapters already, left work, and arrived home to the news that my 96-year-old grandmother had had a stroke. The next two chapters were written in the next two days, waiting for word of her status.
> 
> I gave the chapters to WLG to see if I needed to toss them away because they were too tonally different from what I had written so far, but she said they were good and important, so here they are for you to enjoy. I hope you like them, in spite of the major changes. This was not where I expected this fic to go before getting that news.
> 
> I am attending her funeral this weekend. Call your grandmother if she's still around and tell her you love her.
> 
> Happy Fanfiction Friday me hearties.

 

On Tuesday evening of Elizabeth's third week of school she was in her room at her and Faith's house, transcribing the notes she'd taken in class in her notebook into some sense of coherence in her computer when the phone rang.

"Good afternoon, this is Elizabeth," she said sweetly without checking the caller ID. Only a handful of people ever called her, and she didn't mind talking to any of them.

"Elizabeth," Viola's voice was more serious and frightened than Elizabeth had ever heard it, "you must come home right now."

Elizabeth blinked, immediately distracted from her work by her sister's obvious distress. "Viola, what's happened?"

"Mother has been taken to the hospital, you must come right away."

"The hospital? What's wrong with her?"

"She's been having dizzy spells," Viola explained, seeming to have some trouble calming down. "She collapsed this afternoon and was taken away. Please Elizabeth… Father is a basket case and I need someone with a cool head!"

Viola  _must_ be upset if she was giving Elizabeth any kind of a compliment, and that fact alone galvanized Elizabeth.

"Yes, of course," she said, standing and beginning to look around her room, trying to organize her thoughts enough to decide what was best done. "I must pack and e-mail my professors, but I'll leave in less than two hours."

"As soon as you can," Viola said, then hung up without a further word of farewell.

Without her sister's panic in her ears, Elizabeth was much more able to organize her own thoughts. As she'd told Viola, she must contact her professors and pack, but was there anything else?

"Faith?" Elizabeth called as she left her room, not sure if she remembered whether her roommate had come home yet or not. "Are you here?"

"Yeah!" Faith called from the living room where, now that she was listening, Elizabeth could hear the television running. "What's up?" Faith asked, coming to the bottom of the stairs and looking up.

"My mother has been taken to the hospital. I'm going to need to leave for home as soon as possible. I'm going to e-mail my professors, will you be willing to pick up anything they need me to have? And perhaps come out this weekend? I'll buy your bus ticket for you since I'll have to take my car, but I'll need you… you know how I get when it's just me and my family for too long."

"Of course," Faith said without any doubt. "Anything you need. Can I help you pack?"

"Yes," Elizabeth said. "I've a load of clothes in the dryer if you could bring those up? And… shit."

Elizabeth could feel the tears stuck in the back of her throat and did not want to let them up. They would be fearful tears, and frustrated tears, and angry tears. She wasn't ready to cry yet.

"I'll be right up," Faith said, seeming to understand everything Elizabeth wasn't saying.

Back in her room, Elizabeth quickly composed an e-mail to send out in a blast to all of her professors asking that they excuse her from classes this week because of a family emergency. The third week of classes meant she didn't yet have any exams or papers, but there were in some classes daily quizzes, homework assignments, and expected readings to complete. She asked for a list of what would need to be done, and for any documentation to be set aside for Faith to pick up on Elizabeth's behalf later in the week.

As she entered Dr. Gowan's e-mail address into the list, Elizabeth felt her tension ratchet up another notch. She had been to all of his lectures, read every page he'd asked of them at least once and often two or three times, and been to as many of Lee's office hours as she could manage, and still she felt as though she were barely grasping the material. She wondered sometimes whether she was stupid or Dr. Gowan were making it deliberately obtuse.

Once she hit send, Elizabeth flipped through her folders to find the syllabus Lee had passed out on their first day, and dialed the number on the last page.

"Lee Coulter!" he said jauntily into the phone.

"Lee? This is Elizabeth Thatcher, from Dr. Gowan's-"

"Wednesday evening class. Yes, Elizabeth, I know who you are," he said, amusement clear in his voice. "Even if you hadn't been to almost all of my office hours, you're Rosemary's friend."

Elizabeth was somewhat surprised by this classification, but didn't feel as though it needed refuting, and if it did, she was in no mood to do so at this moment.

"Yes," she said. "Well… I've a problem, Lee. My mother has just been taken to the hospital, so I will be returning home for a few days, which means I'll miss Dr. Gowan's lecture tomorrow."

"Oh God," Lee said. "Is your mother alright?"

"I don't know," Elizabeth said, and she could feel the hot ball of tears and fears rising up the back of her throat again. "I'm calling because… well… I don't know if there's any way that I can replace the information from the lecture that I'll miss, and I don't know if I'll be able to keep my head above water if I don't have it."

"Goodness, Elizabeth," Lee said, sounding shocked and a little sad, "you really shouldn't be worrying about that at a time like this."

"It's either worry about school or burst into tears," Elizabeth admitted softly.

"Alright," Lee said. "I'll help you out. What would you say to me filming Dr. Gowan's lecture and sending it to you. Might actually be better since you'd be able to listen to it a couple of times if you need to."

"Oh Lee!" Elizabeth cried. "Would you do that? If you can't send it over e-mail, my roommate is going to pick up notes and things from my other classes, you could give it to her."

"I'm happy to help," Lee said, gently. "Don't you worry about a thing, Elizabeth. You and me? We're going to make sure you stay on top, no matter what. In all of your classes, I'll do anything I can. Now you go take care of your mom and don't worry about school until you've got the bandwidth, okay?"

"Okay," Elizabeth said. She could nearly feel the tears again. "Thank you. Goodbye."

Faith was waiting in the doorway, Elizabeth's laundry in a basket on her hip.

"Was that Jack?" she asked, sympathetically.

"Jack?" Elizabeth said, blankly. "No, it was… oh God, Jack!"

She suddenly wanted with all her heart to call Jack and tell him what had happened- that she wouldn't be in class with him, or able to let him walk her home (though they still didn't quite call it that), or to occasionally see each other on campus and smile as they passed. She wanted to tell him that she was afraid, and wanted to hear him say that everything would be alright, even though she knew it wouldn't.

She couldn't do any of those things, however, because-

"I don't have Jack's number," Elizabeth said, staring wide-eyed at Faith.

"What? Still?" Faith asked, voice suddenly losing its gentle, soothing quality and returning to a more normal, slightly sarcastic tone. "God, Elizabeth, must you move like molasses?"

Almost against her will, Elizabeth smiled. "Well… yes. I haven't a lot to go on other than my own instinct, and it has me going pretty slow."

Faith rolled her eyes and dropped Elizabeth's basket on her bed, then sat on the edge herself.

"You could try the student directory," she said after a moment. "It'll have his e-mail address… that would be something at least."

"Yeah…" Elizabeth said, frowning. "Maybe."

"Well, think about it," Faith said. "But you need to pack. I'm going to call Abigail and see if she can make you a packed dinner for the road, okay?"

"Thank you, Faith," Elizabeth said.

As she packed, Elizabeth thought about Jack. She wanted, more than anything in that moment, to tell him what she was thinking, and yet she wasn't sure whether such a confession would be appreciated. That there was something between them, Elizabeth was fairly sure, but what the nature of that thing was, she could not say.

Faith would have told her to plunge ahead without heeding anything, but as Elizabeth had told her, she was forced to go on instinct, and her instinct was telling her to tread carefully.

In the end, Elizabeth closed the lid of her laptop without finding out Jack's e-mail address and slid it into its case. He wouldn't have cared to hear from her anyway, she told herself, hoping it was a lie.

Forty-five minutes after Viola had hung up on her, Elizabeth was looking at three bags packed on her bed- her backpack with her laptop and several of her schoolbooks. A largeish bag which held the rest of her books, and a slightly-smaller bag holding her clothes and toiletries. She had a closet full of clothes still at home, all she needed were some necessities.

Elizabeth shouldered two of the bags and picked up the third, backing out of her room and shutting the door as she went. Turning, she found Faith bounding up the stairs to take one of the bags and help her down the steps.

The two girls had just gotten the bags into the trunk of Elizabeth's light blue Mini when Abigail drove up.

"Elizabeth!" she cried, jumping out of her car after having scarcely stopped. She rushed up the drive and threw her arms around Elizabeth, speaking soothing words that she barely heard.

Elizabeth sighed and melted into this source of maternal comfort, pressing her face into Abigail's shoulder and squeezing her eyes shut to keep the tears at bay.

Elizabeth loved her mother- she would not drop everything and go to her for less than love- but it was not an affectionate or understanding love. Her mother found Elizabeth strange and incomprehensible and had not, since Elizabeth was a tiny child, offered her the comfort of her arms.

For one guilty moment, Elizabeth wished that Abigail was her mother, both for the gentle affection which she showed so easily, but because if this whole, healthy woman were Elizabeth's mother, she would not be afraid and all would be as it had been an hour before.

The thought lasted only an instant, but Elizabeth pulled away from Abigail as though she might transmit the guilt through touch.

"I've brought you food," Abigail said, keeping her hands on Elizabeth's shoulders and looking her straight in the eyes, "and coffee. And you're to call if you need absolutely anything, do you understand me? Faith and I will hop in my car and be there just as soon as we can."

Elizabeth pushed back the tears one more time and gave Abigail and Faith a brave smile.

"Thank you," she said, voice wavering. "Thank you both."

~?~?~?~?~

All things being equal, Jack thought that Wednesday would have been his least favorite day out of the week; it started early and ended late, he didn't particularly like any of his classes and sincerely disliked one, and his dorm's cafeteria served broccoli cheese casserole which made the whole place smell of overcooked vegetables.

Things were not equal, however, and for the last two weeks, on Wednesday evening, Jack had been allowed to walk Elizabeth Thatcher home.

They still weren't calling it that. They continued to pretend that they were both walking the same direction, which just happened to lead up to the gate of Elizabeth's little house.

Rosemary had joined them part of the way the second week, peeling off when they reached the library with some story about needing to return a book, and the rest of the walk had seemed quiet without her chatter. Jack had nearly reached for Elizabeth's hand a dozen times, but had always stopped himself. When they had reached her gate, they stood for a moment, talking quietly. Jack had shouted "invite me in" in his mind, hoping that she might pick up on it, but she hadn't. She had wished him goodnight and closed the gate behind her.

On his way back through campus, Rosemary had rejoined him at the library and had poked him in the ribs as they walked.

"Did you kiss her?" she'd asked.

"No."

"Well why not?"

Jack hadn't said anything, only shrugged. He didn't really know why he hadn't kissed her. It wasn't for lack of wanting, but something in him had stopped him, as it had with taking her hand. Something told him it wasn't right. Not tonight. Not yet.

As he entered the Econ lecture hall, he wondered if it would be right tonight, and the thought felt like a charge of electricity under his skin. He wondered if he was glowing.

Rosemary and Elizabeth weren't there yet, so Jack set his books down at their usual table, flipped open his notebook, and began doodling in a corner as he waited. It didn't surprise him to find himself carefully sketching the tip of a slightly-upturned nose. She was never far from his artist's fingers, particularly in this room, on this day.

Rosemary joined him five minutes before the start of class, managing, as usual, to make an entrance with both drama and efficiency. Three minutes later, Lee arrived and set up his laptop and phone at a table right in front of the lectern.

Elizabeth still hadn't arrived when Dr. Gowan blew in, drew his glance once over the classroom seeming not to notice Elizabeth's empty seat at all, and began his lecture in his signature indifferently efficient style.

"Where is Elizabeth?" Rosemary hissed.

Jack just shook his head, he had no idea, and bent his head to his notebook.

He expected her to walk in at any moment, having taken a wrong turn on a campus which was still new to her, or having fallen asleep over her books in the library, or any of a hundred perfectly reasonable excuses, but she never did.

Jack knew that his notes would be incomprehensible when the time came to look them over, but he could not seem to focus on Dr. Gowan's drone that night. When he finished speaking with a final hard consonant, a nod, and an indifferent "goodnight," Jack nearly cheered.

"Where could she possibly be?" Rosemary asked as soon as the door had closed behind their professor. "Did she say anything to you?"

"Nothing," Jack said, and he wasn't sure if he was angry or terrified. Surely she'd have told him if she'd dropped the course, and if she hadn't, where could she possibly be?

Even as he thought it, though, he wondered if it were true. Would she have told him? He knew how he felt about Elizabeth, but had no idea how Elizabeth felt about him. They had only been alone twice, and she had never seemed to seek to cross the physical space between them. What if it wasn't the same for her as it was for him?

Lee appeared at their table at that moment with a smile and nod for Jack, and a slightly warmer smile for Rosie.

"When you talk to Elizabeth next, let her know that I got the video of Gowan's lecture, and I'll be sure to give it to her roommate when she comes by," he said.

"Elizabeth?" Jack nearly-shouted. It took all his self-control to keep from grabbing Lee by his shirtfront and shaking him down for whatever information he had on Elizabeth.

"You've spoken to her?" Rosemary asked, managing to sound calmer than Jack, though still concerned.

"You haven't?" Lee asked, staring with surprise between the pair of them. "She called me last night to say she had to go home, and ask if I thought there was anything I could do to help her since she wouldn't make the lecture this week."

"Home?" Jack asked, and wondered if he'd manage to graduate to multi-word sentences soon.

"Yeah, her mother's been taken to the hospital," Lee confirmed. "I said I'd tape Gowan's lecture for her. I assumed she'd have called you guys. I thought-" he glanced at Jack and then away again. "I just figured she'd call."

"Couldn't have called me, I've never gotten around to giving her my number," Rosemary said. "Have to fix that as soon as she gets back. But surely-" she looked at Jack expectantly.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I've… never given her my number. Or gotten hers."

"Seriously?" Rosemary asked, worry for Elizabeth replaced for the moment with annoyance at Jack. "If you two move any slower, you'll be going backward."

Lee snorted a laugh, but rallied almost immediately, resuming his serious expression.

"She didn't ask for more than one week's lecture, so I think she's planning to be back next week. I hope her mom's okay."

"I hope  _she_ is," Rosemary added.

Jack said nothing, just stared at the little sketch he'd made of her face and desperately wished that things were different.


	5. COMM1000: Introduction to Interpersonal Communication

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Boy howdy did canon make a stupid decision last week or what? Never you fear, I have a tendency to ignore such things in my AUs, so you can continue to enjoy this story and expect all of the appropriate happy endings.**
> 
> **(If you want my actual response to the decision to which I am alluding, see the short piece I posted early this week... It's not bad writing, and I say it myself...)**

Elizabeth was perfectly still in the dim room, but she was not asleep. One of her schoolbooks lay open in her lap, but she wasn't looking at it. Rather, she was watching her mother sleep.

Before Elizabeth had even arrived back home, her father had gotten her mother a room at a small private hospital outside of town with posh decorations and 1200-thread-count linen sheets, but nothing could hide the wires and tubes that attached her to machines like some futurist art installment.

Those wires weren't keeping her alive, thank God, she was managing that fine by herself for the moment, but the fact of them made it apparent that someone thought there was a possibility that she would stop managing. That it could happen at any moment, and all must be watched.

The metronome of the heart monitor drove Elizabeth's thoughts forward like a piano concerto.

She wanted, more than anything in the world, to get into her little car and put this beastly place behind her.

Return to school and her pretty blue house, her classes, her weekly walks with Jack.

Rosemary had said the Student Organizing Committee meetings would begin soon.

They were going to start with a campus-wide blood drive.

Her mother's blood type was A+.

Elizabeth's was O+.

She could donate to her mother in an emergency, though Viola would be better.

Her blood type was also A+.

She was so like their mother.

Elizabeth couldn't leave her mother, no matter how much she wanted to.

Viola had already returned to Boston where she worked for a prestigious law firm and dated a man from Europe with a minor title to his name and nothing interesting to say over dinner.

If Elizabeth left, only her father and Julie, only 16, would be left to manage Mother's health.

Father could hire nurses, of course, but Elizabeth shouldn't leave them alone.

Not Father.

Not Julie.

All of these thoughts swirled around a single point: that word that no one would say. They covered the word with other words that you might be able to pretend didn't mean the same thing. Tumor. Mass. And that most vicious of words, malignant.

It was cancer, of course. Elizabeth had spoken to Faith every night since coming home and thought she had an idea of what was to come. They had finished surgery- Elizabeth could see the ugly scar peeking out of the edge of the bandage that hid her mother's beautiful russet hair- next was recovery, radiation, chemotherapy and, if they were lucky, remission.

She wanted to run away.

She couldn't leave Mother and Father and-

"Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth started in her chair and looked up to see Julie crossing the room toward her on kitten-soft feet.

"Here," Julie said, taking Elizabeth's hand and pulling her out of the chair, at the same time setting her book on the little table beside the chair, "trade me. I'll sit with Mother for a bit. Your friends have arrived."

"Friends?" Elizabeth said, blankly.

"Faith and the others."

Elizabeth blinked. "What others?"

Julie shrugged. "I don't know, they're  _your_  friends. You have to go greet them. Oh… but don't go looking like that-" she grabbed Elizabeth's hand as she turned to go. "One moment," Julie said, tucking several stray curls into the long, thick braid that Elizabeth had pulled over her shoulder

Julie looked her sister over with an appraising expression and sighed. "Oh well, they came all this way for you, they must love you anyway. Go on then."

Elizabeth had nothing to say to that, and so she left her mother's room without another word, feeling as though she were escaping a prison.

Time had gotten away from Elizabeth and she had forgotten that it was Friday evening, and Faith was expected. What was not expected were the three other familiar faces standing with Faith in the waiting area.

"Elizabeth!" Rosemary cried as she and Faith crossed the room to her, wrapping her up in a four-armed hug that made Elizabeth feel a bit as though she we're suddenly in the arms of some exotic sea creatures.

When she had first arrived at the hospital, the ball of angry, frightened, guilty tears that had rested at the back of Elizabeth's throat since she had first spoken to Viola vanished, leaving Elizabeth feeling as though she were empty, floating aimlessly on a raft atop a calm sea.

Now, like the Kraken of old, Rosemary and Faith had reached up to capsize Elizabeth's tiny raft and drag her down into the perilous deep.

Without realizing and without consent, Elizabeth was suddenly sobbing into Faith's shoulder as Rosemary patted her back.

Two additional sets of hands helped maneuver the girls over to the sofa in the waiting area. Faith and Rosemary sat Elizabeth down, then book-ended her as she cried, whispering words of comfort.

After a few minutes, Elizabeth was able to bring herself back under control, and she sat away from Faith, able to breath again, though not without the occasional quiver or hiccough.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "I don't-"

"Oh hush," Rosemary said in her usual, officious tone. "You've had a hard time lately, and that's what friends are for, isn't it?"

"I- yes," Elizabeth said, and gave them all a smile- it was a small, watery, and not-entirely believable thing, but it was a smile.

"How did you get here?" Elizabeth asked, looking from Faith to Rosemary to Lee to Jack, then quickly back to Faith.

"It was all Lee's idea," Rosemary said, smiling fondly up at him where he and Jack stood in front of the sofa.

"I went to Lee to get your class notes." Faith explained, "and he offered to drive me out here."

"I mentioned it to Rosemary and Jack-" Lee continued, gesturing at those two.

"-And we said  _of course_  we'd come," Rosemary finished. "It was Lee who told us where you'd gone- we were worried when you didn't show up to Gowan's class. From here on in, I want you to call me straight away if something happens. Where is your phone? I'll put my number in it right now."

Elizabeth patted absently at her pockets. "It must be in my purse," she said, "back in my mother's room.

"I'll get it," Faith said, squeezing Elizabeth's hands. "I should look in on her regardless."

"She's just out of surgery and not awake yet," Elizabeth said. "Julie's sitting with her now."

Faith smiled. "I'm sure I can handle Julie." She looked seriously into Elizabeth's face. "You need to have some food and coffee," she declared after a moment. "You'll feel better if you do."

"What a good idea!" Rosemary said, hopping off the couch as though it had goosed her. "Lee, you and I will go get us all something to eat. Jack, you stay here with Elizabeth."

Rosemary was ruthless, clever, and impossible to say 'no' to, but she was not subtle. Lee had to put his hand over his mouth to hide his laugh, and Faith was biting the inside of her lip as they left Jack and Elizabeth alone in the waiting room.

Jack sat down on the sofa beside her. Unlike Rosemary and Faith, who had cuddled in close, he left several inches of red damask between them.

He sat forward, leaning his forearms on his knees, and addressed his first words since arriving to the floor.

"I wasn't sure you'd want me to come."

Those were not at all the words that Elizabeth had hoped he'd say to her when they were reunited, and the inches of space between them seemed suddenly to gape like a chasm.

"Did Rosemary make you come?" Elizabeth asked, feeling suddenly cold. "I'm so sorry Jack, I-"

"No," he said, definitely, shifting slightly so he could glance at her out of the corner of his eye before returning his gaze to the carpet. "No, the night Lee told us you'd gone home, I went to Abigail's to ask her if she knew where to find you. She said she didn't, but that Faith would. I tried to find Faith, but we kept missing one-another. She found Lee first." He glanced at her again, then said to the floor, "I'd have gotten on a bus on Wednesday night if I'd known where to go."

"Oh," Elizabeth said, and she didn't feel cold anymore, and he didn't feel distant- everything felt too close and too warm and too important all of a sudden.

"It scared me when you weren't in class on Wednesday," he told his hands. "I was afraid maybe… maybe you'd dropped the class and hadn't told me."

Elizabeth frowned. Jack seemed to be trying to tell her something very important, but she could not seem to understand what it was.

"Jack, I-"

"It scared me because I thought if you could just drop out and not say anything, maybe it wasn't as important to you as it is to me. And I realized that I don't know… I don't know if it's important to you."

"Dr. Gowan's economics lectures?" Elizabeth asked, completely at sea. "I'm sorry Jack but no. I haven't dropped the class, and I'm sorry you thought I might have, but those lectures are terrible and I hate them."

She could see from the side of his face that he was smiling, even though he still wasn't looking at her. Why wouldn't he look at her?

"He's a terrible teacher," Jack agreed, "but that's not really what I meant. The class is important to me- most important part of my week, really- because it's when I get to see you."

"Oh," Elizabeth breathed again, but Jack did not seem to hear.

"But I didn't-  _don't-_ know… whether it's important to you the same way," he said. "We've never said anything… it didn't really seem necessary. Like we had all the time in the world but then… I thought you were gone, and I felt like an idiot for wasting time."

"I'm not going anywhere, Jack," Elizabeth said quietly, then reached out across what seemed the vast distance between them, and took his hand.

He turned his head and looked her fully in the face for the first time.

"It's important to me," she said, gripping his hand tightly in hers. "I don't yet know  _how_ important, but it  _is_ important."

"Good," Jack said, a small smile coming to his face. "We can figure the rest out as we go, but that's… that's good."

The pair of them just looked at each other for a long time when suddenly Elizabeth realized that, without her noticing, their faces had gotten very close- so close she could feel Jack's breath across her cheek. She didn't know if she had leaned into him or he had leaned into her or if, maybe, they had leaned into one-another, but there seemed a sudden inevitability in the air, and her hand, where it touched his, seemed to spark with electricity which raced in bright sparkles along every nerve ending in her body.

"Elizabeth?"

The voice straightened Elizabeth's spine away from Jack and she turned toward the thunderous-faced man standing at the entrance to the waiting room.

"Father," Elizabeth said, standing quickly.

In spite of the man's pointed glower, she did not release Jack's hand, rather she tugged on it to indicate he should stand too, which he did with alacrity.

"Father," Elizabeth repeated, her tone bordering on wheedling, "this is Jack Thornton. He's my-" she hesitated half a heartbeat, "-friend from school."

"Friend, is it?" her father asked, putting a rather nasty emphasis on the first word.

"My dear friend," Elizabeth reiterated, her voice going cold and stubborn suddenly.

Far from dropping Jack's hand, she squeezed it such that he could begin to feel his fingertips going numb. He wouldn't squirm away from her if she broke his every bone though, and he squeezed her hand gently back.

"Your notes home have referred to little but schoolwork," Mr. Thatcher said. "You said you hadn't yet found much time to socialize with your study schedule."

"That's true," Jack said, offering Mr. Thatcher his most charming smile. "Elizabeth and I have a class together. Without it we would scarcely be nodding acquaintances, but since our class goes into the evening, I have taken to walking her home from school so she isn't out alone at night."

Mr. Thatcher opened his mouth as though to say something, then closed it again.

"That is," he said, after a moment, "admirable." He could not have sounded more grudging had he tried.

"It does not explain, however, what you are doing here," Mr. Thatcher continued, glaring the pair of them down.

"Jack, as well as my friends Rosemary and Lee came with Faith to offer me their support," Elizabeth said, seeming to take some courage from Jack. "They will be staying at our house. Rosemary can share my room, and Jack and Lee can stay in the guest room."

"And on Sunday evening, we'll escort her back to school," Jack said.

Elizabeth's hand twitched in his when he said it, but did not let go. Mr. Thatcher reared back as though Jack had slapped him.

"Sunday?" he cried. "But you only arrived on Tuesday night. You haven't even been here a week. Your mother is scarcely out of major surgery!"

Elizabeth was clutching Jack's hand so tight he could feel his bones grinding together.

"Mother's surgery went well," she said, her voice cool, though Jack could tell from the grip she kept on his hand that she was not. "The doctors say she is going to be fine, and I will be here when she wakes. But yes, I must return to school. I can't afford to miss any more classes, and midterms are only a month away."

Mr. Thatcher stared between Elizabeth's cool, composed face, and Jack's bland smile as thought waiting for one of them to break. After a moment, he stormed out of the waiting room toward Mrs. Thatcher's room.

When he was out of sight, Elizabeth's grip on Jack's hand slackened, but still she didn't drop it. Instead she dropped onto the couch with a whoosh, pulling him down beside her, this time without the inches between them.

"Are you sure you're ready to come back to school, Elizabeth?" Jack asked solicitously.

"Jack, you have no idea how glad I will be to see the back of my family," Elizabeth said.

~?~?~?~?~

"I can't believe your older sister called you here then didn't even bother to wait for you," Rosemary said, pulling her nightshirt over her head in Elizabeth's room that night.

"Oh, she did," Elizabeth said, twisting her own long, damp hair into a braid. "I arrived at about 9 on Tuesday night, and she left at 9 on Wednesday morning. Twelve whole hours!"

"Six of which you were asleep?" Rosemary guessed.

"More than enough for her to tell me how selfish I am for not having been here when Mother needed me." Elizabeth sounded off-handed, but Rosemary had a feeling there were years of resentments behind that.

"As if you wouldn't have had better to do on a Tuesday afternoon even if you  _were_  living at home," Rosemary decided.

"Well no, I didn't. Viola is quite convinced I'll grow up to be a maiden aunt because I never dated in high school. Faith told you I went to an all-girls school?"

"Did Viola not go to the same school?"

"Ah… no," Elizabeth said, giving Rosemary a sly look over her shoulder. "Viola is actually the reason that Julie and I had to go."

"Oh?" Rosemary said, settling in on the bench at the vanity beside Elizabeth and nudging her with her shoulder. "Dish!"

Elizabeth looked around dramatically, as though they weren't in her lovely bedroom alone with the door closed.

"Well," she said, lowering her voice. "Viola met a boy during high school and got so distracted with him that she failed all her classes and had to repeat her Junior year." She gave a wicked grin. "She's a year older than she tells everyone because she's trying to set herself to have graduated high school at 18."

Rosemary buried her face in her hands to stifle her giggles.

"Yes, Mother didn't want that happening again, hence Regia Mundi Academy." Elizabeth shrugged. "It wasn't so bad."

"Yes well, if Jack has anything to say on the matter, you won't be a maiden anything," Rosemary said defiantly. "Not for long, anyway."

"Oh," Elizabeth said, her hands going still in her hair.

She had not considered that at all. She had ambiguously admitted to having feelings for Jack and then almost-but-not-quite kissed him, but she realized suddenly that she knew nothing about his dating history. She was the most consummate of virgins, this very afternoon having been the longest she had held a man's hand since childhood.

Jack, on the other hand, having gone to public school, might have had dozens of girlfriends and hundreds of sexual experiences. He might have an STI or have fathered a child at some point. He was eighteen months older than Elizabeth, there was no telling  _what_  he'd gotten up to.

"Elizabeth?" Rosemary said, bringing Elizabeth out of her reverie. "Did something happen between you and Jack?"

"What?" Elizabeth asked, her voice jumping a register, wondering what it was Rosemary thought might have happened.

Rosemary lifted an eyebrow. "For nearly three weeks now, every time I've mentioned you to the other all I get is some variation on 'we're just friends, Rosie,' or 'we barely know each other.' Not tonight though. Did you two talk? Are you dating?"

"I-" Elizabeth began, then hesitated. Since she was three years old, every secret she'd ever had had been shared first and foremost with Faith. It felt disloyal, somehow, to tell Rosemary when Faith didn't know, but Elizabeth didn't think she could possibly sleep without answering some of the questions swirling in her head, and the only person who might be able to answer them (aside from Jack, and that would be just too mortifying) was Rosemary.

"Not exactly," Elizabeth hedged, and swore to herself she'd beg Faith's forgiveness in the morning. "But… maybe eventually. Except… Rosemary, how many girls has Jack dated?"

"Mmmm, let's see. Well, there was me-"

"You?" Elizabeth cried.

"Oh yes," Rosemary said, grinning. "We were very serious. He gave me a ring and asked me to marry him."

"What?"

"Yes, it was very romantic. He was seven and I was eight, and the ring came from the quarter machine at the pizza parlor. We got married the next day on the playground, but I ended things because his wedding present to me was a dead frog in a shoebox."

Both girls were giggling by this point.

"Perhaps something post-puberty," Elizabeth said, once she had her breath back. "Anyone there?"

Rosemary shrugged. "There were a few girls in high school. The only one that lasted more than a few weeks was Bianka Acone. They were going to go to prom together, but after he bought the tickets, she left him for a football player."

"How terrible!" Elizabeth said. "So he didn't go to his own prom, or did you go with him?"

"I was already in college and it wasn't a convenient weekend to leave, or I probably would have," Rosemary said regretfully. "He was all set to stay home and sulk, but his mother- just wait until you meet her, she's a character- she wasn't having it. She made the rest of the soccer team come in their limo and pick him up. Told him he'd best get a tux on or he'd look like a fool all night." Rosemary grinned. "He had a great time."

"Oh good, I'm glad he went," Elizabeth said. "Has there been anyone in college?"

Rosemary shook her head. "He's been on a couple of dates, but nothing that went past that first dinner."

Elizabeth nodded. She felt better, but there was still one more question she wanted the answer to. She wasn't sure Rosemary would be willing to answer, or wouldn't be completely horrified with Elizabeth for asking, but she supposed she was already in for the penny.

"Rosemary… do you think Jack is a virgin?"

"No, I don't think so."

Elizabeth went cold for an instant before Rosemary continued.

"I know for a  _fact_  he is."

"Oh," Elizabeth said, sighing in relief. "Well… that's good then."

Rosemary smiled and reached out to take Elizabeth's hand, squeezing gently.

"Right after I met you, I told Jack he was allowed to fall in love with you," Rosemary said, bumping Elizabeth's shoulder with hers. "For the record, you're allowed to fall in love with him too."

"Thank you," Elizabeth said, knowing the compliment in the statement. "I haven't yet though."

"No," Rosemary agreed. "But you could."

Elizabeth thought about it for a moment, and then smiled. "Yes," she said quietly. "I think I could."


	6. METEO437: Atmospheric Chemistry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Quick shout-out to WLG who mentioned as I was writing this chapter that there is a conversation between Faith and Elizabeth that sounds just a tid-bit familiar to her. (I will never forgive her for introducing me to the Outlander series, even until we are old and grey and even more incoherent than we are now.)**
> 
> **Shout out to my own Pumpkin (my husband's online persona) who did actually used to go puddle-jumping with me and the girl I was dating at the time in college.**
> 
> **And a quick warning that this chapter is a little steamier than most... I'm not apologizing, I'll be honest, I'm pretty proud of it.**
> 
> **I have THE WORST cold right now and feel like death, so read my story and tell me that you like it 'cause it'll make me feel better!**

"Some of the girls in the nursing school are going out for coffee tonight," Faith said, tying her hair up in the locker room of the gym. "I'm sure you could come if you want when we're done."

Elizabeth stripped her shirt off and shook the fallen curls out of her eyes. "Next time," she said, tossing the shirt into her locker and pulling out her swimsuit. "My first econ paper is due the week after next, and Lee said he'd look over what we've got so far at his next office hours."

"Hardly seems fair for you to be so worried about a gen ed," Faith said, sitting on the bench to pull on her running shoes. "Your other classes are going okay, right? All your major courses?"

"Great," Elizabeth confirmed. "I'm loving them. I mean, I could always get my last round of essays back and be told they were incoherent drivel, or I could fall apart at midterms, but so far so good."

Faith shook her head. "I hardly think that's likely, you're the smartest person I know. I'm sorry about Econ though."

"Yeah, me too," Elizabeth said, settling her suit's straps on her shoulders. "Recording the lectures has helped some though."

"Is that what you've been listening to in your room in the evenings?" Faith asked, looking up as Elizabeth started to braid her hair.

"Sometimes," Elizabeth said. "Other times it's one of the  _Outlander_ books because  _somebody_ insisted that I just  _had_ to read them."

Faith grinned. "They're amazing, right?"

"You couldn't possibly have waited until winter break?"

"Hey, if I have to be completely obsessed with those books, I need someone to obsess with. Let me know when you get to the last one. There's a moment that… I won't tell you what happens, but you'll cry."

"I really do hate you," Elizabeth said without heat, grabbing her towel and leading Faith toward the door.

"I know," Faith agreed cheerfully as she unwound her headphones. "See you in a bit?" she asked as the two girls reached the fork that would take Faith to the running track and Elizabeth to the pool.

"If I'm not done when you are, go ahead and go to your coffee date," Elizabeth said. "No reason to be late on my account. I'll see you at home later."

~?~?~?~?~

Jack sighed. It had been a truly tedious afternoon.

Lifeguarding (like policing, he'd been assured) was long stretches of boredom interspersed with tiny stretches of heart-pounding action. Summers at the Y- with children running where they shouldn't, pools so full of humanity it was impossible to keep everyone in sight at once, storm warnings, and at least weekly "brown" or "green" drills- lent themselves far more to the heart-pounding action than the lanes at the campus rec center.

The difference between watching children swim and watching adults swim was massive. No one came to this pool just to play, and no one came who didn't already know how to swim. Besides even that, the lanes were only 4'8" deep, so nearly everyone who swam there was perfectly tall enough to stand.

He was paid $12 an hour to do little but sit and daydream, however, so Jack supposed he couldn't complain.

No one had even bothered to show up since his shift had started today, and Jack was wondering if it would be more honorable to just sign his paycheck back to the university, or if anyone would even notice if he went and got his Econ paper to work on, when she walked in.

Jack knew, of course, that Elizabeth Thatcher had legs. He'd seen them the first time he'd met her, underneath her knee-length sundress. He'd even caught sight of them a few times since when she wore the dress, or a similar one, again, though never on a Wednesday when he'd have time to admire them. He supposed he even must have known that her legs went all the way up, as he'd seen them do so when she wore jeans.

What he hadn't done was put the two concepts together in his mind to imagine the pale, smooth skin and subtly toned muscles stretching all the way up and coming together in a V at the top of her thighs, or rising into the round globes of her bottom, unencumbered by denim. He'd known she had breasts, a slim waist, and rounded hips, but to see all of those things encased in clinging spandex and rayon rather than framed by soft cotton was a revelation, and Jack had to wonder at his failure of imagination.

After a moment spent to take in the fact of Elizabeth so minimally clothed, he was able to take in the notion that her swimsuit was actually fairly modest as such things go. It was a one-piece, cut low over the hip, and while it also dipped tantalizingly over her breasts, it was more a tease than an advertisement. The suit was pink with some artistic ruching which might, on a less lovely girl, help hide any imperfections, but Jack couldn't really believe that Elizabeth had anything to hide. It was clearly not a racer's suit, but was well-enough suited to exercising, which he realized must be her purpose in being here.

He wondered if his presence was likely to distract her as much as hers was going to distract him, when she set her towel down, adjusted her goggles, and slid into a lane without so much as glancing at him.

Apparently not.

Jack settled back into his raised seat- the one which gave him an unhindered view of the entire (empty) room- grateful for the break in the day's tedium. He could hardly have wished for a better way to pass his time.

Like her suit, Elizabeth's style was not precisely competition-standard. She'd clearly been taught to swim and had done so for a long time, but had never been on a swim team where form would be paramount. Her strokes were inefficient and slow, but Jack figured, since she wasn't racing, what need did she have to be fast? She was clearly getting exercise as she swam lap after lap, switching between the four main strokes with each one- first freestyle, then backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and back to freestyle.

She'd been at it for about 15 minutes when another person came to the pool- a guy in trunks who was far less distracting than Elizabeth had been- to begin doing laps a few lanes down from her. A quick glance at the clock told Jack that classes were beginning to end for the day and people were finally going to start coming to the gym. He found it annoying to have his attention diverted from Elizabeth, but supposed he would have to live.

Within 45 minutes, every lane was filled. Jack's knee bounced nervously and his eyes kept returning to the lane Elizabeth had occupied for the better part of an hour. He should be being relieved in a few minutes, and he didn't want to miss an opportunity to talk to her.

"Thornton!"

Jack's surname boomed through the humid air, over the sounds of splashing and off the glass walls. He grinned up at Mikey Perdue before returning his eyes dutifully to the lanes as he climbed down from his seat.

"How's it going, man?" Mikey asked, clapping Jack on the shoulder with a big hand.

Jack wasn't a small man, but Mikey was huge- fully five inches taller than Jack's 6'1" and broad with it, with a deep voice that resonated through his chest like a bass drum. He was pre-med with Carson and had suggested lifeguarding to Jack the previous year when he'd been looking for a campus job.

"Rec center's always so desperate, they'll pay for the training," he'd said. "Only requirement is knowing how to swim."

He'd been right, and Jack had always felt he was in debt to Mikey for getting him his first job.

"Things are going well!" he said, cheerily. "Slow day, but things have picked up now that you're here. Isn't that always the way?"

Mickey chuckled. "You've got that wrong, man. They come  _because_ I'm here. Girls especially- drawn to me in my trunks, you know? 'Cept that girl, apparently she's immune. Must prefer your skinny ass."

Mikey had been keeping his eyes responsibly on the water as he and Jack had been talking, and Jack turned to see that Elizabeth had climbed out of the pool and was vigorously drying herself off with the towel she'd brought in.

"Damn," Jack muttered. "I've got to catch her before she goes."

"So it  _was_ you she was here for?" Mikey asked, amused.

"Not exactly," Jack said with a shrug, "but… you know."

"Yeah, I do. Go on then, I've got to get to work anyway. Catch you around, Jack!"

Jack waved over his shoulder absently as he hurried (but didn't run) across the deck to where Elizabeth was tucking her towel securely under her arms.

"Elizabeth!" he said, when he got near enough not to have to shout.

She jumped and turned and, upon catching sight of him, clutched her towel closer to her chest reflexively.

"Jack!" she cried. "What are you doing here?"

Even as she said it, Jack could see her taking in his white shirt with the lifeguard's cross on the front and his red trunks.

He shrugged and gave a vague gesture around the natatorium. "It's my job."

"I see," she said. "Have you been here the whole time I have?"

"Yup!" Jack said with a grin.

"You didn't say anything!"

"Well I'm meant to be doing my job, not flirting," he said, and was amused to see her cheeks go slightly pink.

"I see," she repeated, voice going prim as it always did when he flustered her. "And now?"

"Now I'm off the clock and can flirt if I like. I like your suit, it's a pretty color on you," he said, reaching out and tapping the strap that was peeking over the top of her towel while at the same time wondering what could possibly have made him so bold.

"Thank you," Elizabeth said. "I think so too. It's why I picked it out."

"Let me walk you home," he said.

Elizabeth looked surprised, and Jack's nerves began to jangle, but she smiled after only a breath.

"Yes, alright," she said. "I have to get cleaned up first, but-"

"I'll wait for you," Jack said, gesturing in the direction of the entrance. "Over by the front desk."

"Okay," Elizabeth said. "I'll see you in a moment."

Jack had no idea what was going on with him. Elizabeth was behaving just as she always did, but something about her was charging his blood today. Maybe it was the amount of her skin he'd gotten to see. Maybe it was just the usual pleasure he always felt in her company, compounded by the fact that the meeting had been unexpected. Regardless, Jack was suddenly feeling restless and reckless. It was as though everything he'd been doing with regards to Elizabeth so far had been at half-speed, and now, returned to normal, it felt excruciating.

Perhaps it was just that he suddenly wanted very badly to kiss her.

The feeling was exacerbated when she appeared at the front desk from the direction of the girls' locker rooms, gym bag over her shoulder, damp hair beginning to dry in frizzy curls around her face, wet swimsuit soaking through the cotton of her t-shirt, makeup-free, and more beautiful than anything Jack thought he'd ever seen in his life.

He reached out and was absurdly pleased when she took his hand, but when they reached the air lock together, they both stopped in horror.

It was absolutely pouring outside- the kind of rain that overfills drains and floods the streets and causes passing cars to make huge rooster tails, no matter how slow they're going.

Jack wracked his brain trying to figure out what to do. He didn't have a car he could offer her to get her home moderately dry, and he suspected that her blue Mini was parked in her own driveway a mile away, as useless as though it were on the moon.

He was just about to suggest that they go back inside to wait it out, when Elizabeth said, sounding absurdly cheerful, "well, this should be an adventure!"

She turned to look at him and seemed to catch some measure of his surprise from his face.

"Well, it's not as though I'm not already wet," she said with a shrug and a glance down at her chest. "I'm even wearing my bathing suit. But it does look like you didn't manage to get wet today. You don't need to come with if you don't want."

She said it matter-of-factly, but Jack couldn't help but hear a small challenge under the words.

"I don't think so," Jack said. "I won't melt if you won't."

Jack had reason to bless this unusually competitive streak he had discovered for the space of one stuttering heartbeat as Elizabeth grinned delightedly at him.

A moment later, as she pulled him out into the deluge and he was soaked to the skin in an instant, he cursed it.

After another moment, when he had scraped his hair out of his eyes and found Elizabeth laughing, with her face tipped upward toward the falling rain, Jack could again begin to see the point.

"Come on!" she shouted over the tumult, and tugged on his hand to pull him in the direction of her house.

Walking in the rain with Elizabeth Thatcher was a revelation. The last gasp of summer had sent the temperatures soaring nearly to 90 earlier in the day. The overcast skies and rain would drop them quickly, but for the moment, it wasn't entirely unlike taking a shower.

Elizabeth was like a child, delighting in the novelty. She did not hurry- they were so wet there was hardly a point- and would often veer off the track to jump into a puddle, giggling in pleasure every time.

"Mother always said that one should carry an umbrella," she called to him over the sounds of water on leaves and the swoosh of cars passing by. "It's unseemly to be out in the rain like this."

Jack  _felt_ unseemly. During the course of their meandering walk, the rain had begun to cool, but even that couldn't seem to chill the blood that seemed to sizzle just under his skin. There was something elemental about the rain and Elizabeth's clear affinity for it- as though she were an ancient water sprite, leading him to the bottomless depths at the center of a black lake. He would follow her, that he knew. He would follow and never count the cost.

The solitude of the rain made them both bold somehow. There was no one else out, and the solitude stripped propriety away.

They began to touch each other as they hadn't done before. Jack made the first move, dropping Elizabeth's hand and wrapping his arm around her narrow waist instead, squeezing gently as his hand stroked over her soaked shirt.

Elizabeth turned and took both of his hands, stepping back into a puddle so deep it reached nearly to her ankles, then pulling him to her so that they were touching nearly from knees to shoulders. Both of Jack's hands found her waist, and she looked up at him, the blue of her eyes nearly subsumed by the black of her pupils, her dark lashes spangled with raindrops like diamonds. Jack's head bent forward almost without his realizing it, and Elizabeth spun away from him.

He might have felt offended or rejected, but she looked back at him over her shoulder and as clear as if she'd spoken the words, he understood her meaning.

_Chase me_.

She took off at a run and Jack followed. It was no competition, but Elizabeth had never meant it to be. She wanted to be caught, and when Jack found her waist again and pulled her roughly back, one large hand pressing into her stomach to hold her in place, she sighed in pleasure.

Jack bent his head to her ear and the side of her neck, breathing her in. His trunks hid nothing and she was pressed so close that she had to know what she was doing to him. Jack thought he should be ashamed, but he seemed to have forgotten how, and when he looked down to see Elizabeth's nipples straining the fabric of both swimsuit and t-shirt, he knew she felt the same.

Her ribcage expanded once under his hand, and she broke away from him again.

One step, two, and he was on her again, unwilling to let her get far away this time. He was like a starving wolf following a scent of blood in the air.

This time, he turned her toward him and pulled her hips almost roughly against his, and she laid her hands on his shoulders like a benediction.

As though she had asked him- as though she had  _ordered_ him- to do so, Jack lowered his mouth to hers.

Kissing Elizabeth Thatcher was Jack's third revelation of the day.

~?~?~?~?~

Elizabeth wondered if it were obvious that she had no idea in all the world what she was doing.

She'd seen movies before, of course, and television. People in movies always seemed to know just the right angle to go in for, however. There was no re-positioning to make it work better, or even to start anew as though the first time hadn't been quite right. People in movies didn't change positions quite as much as Jack was doing either, not if they weren't just about to fall into bed together and, in spite of every nerve in her body vibrating for something unknown, Elizabeth didn't think that was the case here.

The rapidly-chilling rain would put paid to that regardless.

Elizabeth shivered.

Jack pulled back from her mouth and Elizabeth felt suddenly bereft. He leaned in close to her ear, however, so he wouldn't have to shout over the rain.

"We should get you home," he murmured, and his voice so close made Elizabeth want to clamp her legs together and spread them wide at the same time, as everything inside of her went tight and molten all at once. "You need to get warm and dry."

"Oh," Elizabeth said, absurdly disappointed at how prosaic the suggestion was. Had she then been the only one moving through a dream-like water world for the last hour?

She moved to get away, but the muscles in Jack's arms went suddenly steely, holding her in place.

"Elizabeth," he breathed, rubbing his nose gently against her temple, and she went still, unaware that her name could sound like that. "I could do this for hours," he growled, "but if we try, we'll both die of exposure. It'll be better when we're warm and dry. Promise."

"Oh," Elizabeth said again, this time like the breath had been knocked out of her.

_Better. Promise._

She took his hand and the two of them took off in the direction of her house at a run.

~?~?~?~?~

The moment Elizabeth's front door closed behind them, Jack began to regret his lust-drenched promise. With the fantasy locked out along with the rain, he wondered if it would be possible to make good on "better."

Without the overwhelming sound of the rain, Jack could hear the rasp of his own breathing and Elizabeth's, and the steady drip-drip-drip of their clothes creating puddles on the floor.

Jack thought he should say something. Words had come so easily out in the rain but now, inside and starting to feel very cold, he couldn't think of anything but to ask her about her house and that didn't seem to suit the situation at all.

Guys in movies were always cool. In a movie, the guy wouldn't bother to talk, he'd just grab the girl and start kissing again- push her up against the closed door and...

He shook his head, he really shouldn't be thinking about that. Not when his swim trunks were clinging like they were and the reality of the situation was reasserting itself with a vengeance. The lusty unreality and lack of shame was quite gone.

He did want to kiss her again, and he thought it would be okay, even out of the rain.

He turned to do just that at the same moment that Elizabeth turned to him, and his nose met her forehead with a sickening crack.

Elizabeth stumbled back, clutching her forehead with both hands. "Oh God," she moaned. "I'm so sorry, Jack!"

"No, I'm sorry," Jack said, pulling his hand away from his nose and noting with relief that there was no blood there. It hurt so badly his eyes were crossed, but there was no real damage.

"Here," he said, taking Elizabeth's wrist and pulling her hand away from her forehead, "let me see." He brushed a thumb over the slight reddening. As he'd suspected, it was just a bump.

"No harm done," he said, and leaned down to kiss the spot gently. He leaned back and smiled. "Better?"

Elizabeth looked up at him, eyes wide, a sweet smile growing on her mouth. "Much," she said, then went up on tip-toes and kissed the end of his nose. "You?"

"Perfect," Jack said, and was surprised to find that it was. The animal hunger from the storm had abated, but so too had the awkwardness. With that silly exchange, Jack and Elizabeth were friends again. Friends who had kissed and might ( _would_ , if Jack had anything to say on the matter) kiss again, sure, but friends.

The air conditioner chose that moment to kick on with a blast of cool air, and Jack shivered.

"You should get out of those clothes," Elizabeth said. An instant later her eyes went wide as she realized what she'd said. "I mean- I don't mean-"

"I know what you mean," Jack said, soothingly.

"It's just… I can put them in the dryer for you," Elizabeth explained. "You can dry off and… I probably have something you can wear for a bit… if you want." She pointed to the stairs. "The bathroom is at the top, you can change in there. You can even have a shower, if you want to warm up."

"I may take you up on that," Jack said as another chilly breeze hit him.

Elizabeth nodded. "Go on up," she said. "There's a load of towels in the dryer just now, I'll get one for you."

Jack took the stairs two at a time to minimize the amount he dripped on the carpet. The bathroom was at the top, situated between two bedrooms with their doors standing open. The lights were dim, but one looked to be decorated like a treasure chest of jewel-bright tones, and the other was soft and pale as a spring meadow.

He had a guess which girl slept in which room.

In the bathroom with the door closed behind him, Jack stripped off his sopping shirt and let it fall with a splat to the tiles. He reached for his waistband and hesitated. He was wearing his swimming trunks, which meant no boxers. That one article of clothing was all that stood between him and standing naked in Elizabeth Thatcher's house.

The prospect was intimidating and thrilling.

A knock on the door made Jack jump, and he was grateful that he hadn't stripped straight down.

"Jack?" Elizabeth called. "I have a towel for you."

He opened the door and found her holding out the towel with her head turned away and her eyes covered.

"Elizabeth?" Jack said, raising an eyebrow at this performance.

"I… I wasn't sure whether you'd undressed or not," Elizabeth said, resolutely not checking.

"Did you really think I'd open the door to you naked?"

She appeared to give this a moment's consideration and the fingers on the hand she was using to cover her eyes parted slightly so that he could see a gleam of blue between them.

"Oh!" she cried, snapping her fingers shut again the moment she caught sight.

"Elizabeth!" Jack said, giving in and laughing. "I've seen you in your bathing suit!"

Once again, she appeared to give this a moment's thought, then her fingers opened again and her one visible eye roamed over him rather avidly. Jack stood still and passive through this examination until he thought he must say something or truly humiliate himself.

"All right?" he asked.

"Oh!" Elizabeth said again, dropping her hand to her side and her eyes to the floor. She was blushing like a rose as she held out the towel to him again.

"Yes, of course," she said quickly. "You should… get in the shower. I'm going to change clothes and I'll find something you can wear."

With that, she vanished into the pastel room without another glance back at him.

Her shower head was too low for Jack to use comfortably- he had to crouch slightly to get his head properly under it- but the bathroom was otherwise clean and comfortable. There was a largeish assortment of bottles in baskets on one wall, and Jack picked up one, flipped the top, and breathed deeply. Lavender. He smiled.

There was another knock at the door.

"Jack?" Elizabeth's voice called from the other side. "I'm coming in, don't come out of the shower."

"Okay," he said, imagining the look on her face if he did. He wouldn't dare, but it was amusing to imagine.

"Just going to leave these dry clothes on the toilet," she said, "and pick up your wet ones. Uhm… do you want coffee? Or… hot chocolate?"

"Hot chocolate?"

"It's from a mix," she admitted. "That's pretty much the only thing I can make without nearly burning down the kitchen."

"Is the coffee from a mix?" Jack asked, amused.

"No," she said, primly. "I make a very nice pot of coffee, thank you very much."

"Did Faith teach you how?"

"For your information, I taught her," Elizabeth said. "I learned in France."

Jack chuckled. "If you make a pot of French coffee, Elizabeth, I would love to have some."

"Fine. And what about- Never mind."

"What about what?"

"Nothing," she asserted. "It can wait until you're… dressed. Just come downstairs when you're ready."

Ten minutes later, Jack padded into Elizabeth's warm, bright kitchen in a pair of sweatpants that were too short at the ankle, but plenty roomy enough for him otherwise, and an absolutely massive shirt with Cookie Monster screen-printed on the front.

Elizabeth looked up and smiled when he came in and held out a cup of coffee, which Jack took. He breathed in the steam and was slightly surprised (though he'd never tell her so) that it smelled excellent.

"Sugar?" Elizabeth asked. "Milk?"

"Milk please."

She nodded and went to the refrigerator to retrieve a bottle of milk and passed it to him before settling herself against the opposite counter.

"I suppose I should tell you right out that I have no idea what I'm doing here with you," she said.

Jack froze.

In the last few weeks he had managed to set aside is initial instincts about Elizabeth Thatcher. With those words, however, they all came flooding back along with the self-consciousness that came with them. Had she suddenly remembered that her father hadn't liked him and that a girl like her could do so much better than a man like him?

Elizabeth seemed not to notice Jack's turmoil, however, and continued speaking.

"I feel like it must have been perfectly obvious out there-" she gestured vaguely at the rain-clouded window, "-that I've never done this before."

"Never-" Jack said, caught off-guard.

"Never," Elizabeth asserted. "Jack, you're my first… well… my first  _everything_  so far."

Self-consciousness vanished in an instant leaving behind a slight guilt for having misjudged her again, and a bone-deep humility. He remembered Faith's teasing about all-girls schools and Elizabeth's own hesitancy with him since the first moment.

When Lee had dropped Jack and Rosemary at their dorm the afternoon they had returned from the Thatchers' house, she had grabbed Jack's arm just as he was turning toward his own room and had said to him, face uncharacteristically serious, "you be careful with Elizabeth Thatcher, Jack."

He'd said nothing then because he would, of course, be careful with her, but he now had an inkling that Rosemary had known much more than he did.

"Elizabeth," Jack said, almost reverently, "I'm honored."

"I'm really not sure you should be," Elizabeth said, clearly not finding the moment as shattering as Jack seemed to be. "I'm just not convinced I'm any good at this."

Jack frowned. "Good at what, exactly?"

"All of this!" Elizabeth cried, waving her hands in the air as though to encompass everything in the world. "Holding hands, and kissing, and flirting, and dating, and… and  _sex_." She said the last like it was a word she'd never said before and was just a bit afraid of, but was too stubborn to avoid.

Jack set his mug down and crossed to Elizabeth, taking her small, fluttering hands in his.

"I think you are," he said softly.

"I am what?" Elizabeth asked, eyes wide and begging for reassurance.

"Good at all of this," Jack clarified. He slid the fingers of one of his hands through Elizabeth's and squeezed gently. "See?" he said, grinning at her. "A natural."

"Jack," Elizabeth said, annoyed that he was teasing her.

He leaned down and stopped her mouth with a brief kiss.

"And that? You're a prodigy."

She said nothing, but her smile curled up like it did when she was properly pleased.

"As for flirting," Jack shook his head. "If this is what you're like now, I shudder to imagine you with practice."

"And sex," he continued, meeting her eyes seriously now, "well… I've no idea if I'm any good at that either, but maybe we'll figure it out together. Not today!" he assured her. "Not even soon, but I'd like to figure it out with you, eventually."

"Yes," Elizabeth said, breathlessly. "Yes, I think I'd like that."

Jack gathered her in close to him and slowly brushed his cheek over hers before kissing her gently there, and moving to rest his cheek atop her head.

"What do you want to do while our clothes dry?" he asked, stroking her back.

"I told Faith I was going to work on my paper for Gowan," Elizabeth said, head resting on his shoulder.

"I don't have mine," Jack admitted, "but I'd be happy to help with yours if you wanted."

"I really don't," Elizabeth said.

"Good," Jack said. "I really don't either."

~?~?~?~?~

When Faith came home that night, Jack and Elizabeth were asleep on the couch, cuddled together like puppies, Jack wearing Elizabeth's clothes, with Netflix autoplaying unwatched episodes of  _The X-Files_.


	7. CL100: Critical Thinking in Education

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **And now we return to our plot originally in progress.**
> 
> **Happy Star Wars day, nerds!**

Elizabeth tapped on the door to the room Lee used as an office and smiled when he looked up at her with a grin.

"Elizabeth!" he cried. "Come join the party!"

She stepped in and was surprised and not-at-all displeased to see that there were several other people there.

"This  _is_  the place to be tonight! Good evening Rosemary," she said, grinning at her friend.

"Jack." She fluttered her lashes coquettishly at him and he winked at her before returning his attention to his laptop.

Elizabeth turned to greet the last person in the room and froze as she realized who it was.

"Charles!"

Charles Kensington looked up from the sheaf of papers he held in his hand and gave Elizabeth a bland smile.

"Miss Elizabeth Thatcher, what a surprise to see you here."

Lee looked curiously between the pair. "I didn't realize you knew each other," he said.

"Yes," Charles began. "Our-"

"Charles tried to recruit our Elizabeth to Spanish Club in her first week," Rosemary butted in, quickly, "but I seduced her away to my organization instead."

Lee smiled and shook his head. "Somehow, I'm not the slightest bit surprised." He returned his attention to Elizabeth. "Kensington here is Gowan's other Grad Student, so I've got him looking over some of these papers for me. If you want to stick around, I'll look at yours as soon as I'm done with Jack and Rosie's, but if you've somewhere to be, I'll probably give it over to Charles."

"Oh, I'd planned to stay," Elizabeth said. "Cleared my schedule and everything."

Lee laughed. "Thought you might. Well give it here."

Elizabeth stepped forward and held out the stack of paper she'd been clutching to her chest as though it were made of solid gold.

Lee raised an eyebrow at her once he'd gotten a good look at it.

"Tell me you don't think you're going to turn in a college paper with those margins and spacing," he said.

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him. "It's quadruple-spaced and I made the margins wide so you can write notes. I know how to format a paper, Lee, I'm not a fool."

"Just checking. Go sit and find something to work on. I've got more red ink to spill on ol' Jack's paper. Here's hoping yours isn't as bad as his."

Jack didn't look offended. "I was gonna work on it a couple nights ago, but I got distracted," he said, glancing quickly at Elizabeth.

Unseen by Jack and Elizabeth, Lee and Rosemary shared an amused look.

"Always good to know you're giving this class your utmost attention," Lee murmured, as Elizabeth set up her own laptop beside Jack's, but low so that they couldn't hear.

Quiet reigned in the room for a quarter hour, punctuated by the tapping of laptop keys and the occasional shuffle of paper. Finally Lee stood and moved to the seat across from Jack.

"Jack, Jack, Jack," Lee said, shaking his head.

Jack took the paper Lee held out to him and glanced down at the red ink across the front.

"That bad?" he asked.

"No, I'm teasing you," Lee said. "It's fine, but I want you to get at least two more sources for your conclusions on page four, okay? Your conclusion is fine, but your argument is thin. I know the resources are out there, use them, okay?"

"Okay," Jack said.

"Also, you use commas like a high school fanfiction writer. Learn what a comma splice is and never do it again, got it?"

Jack laughed. "My English teachers tried to beat that into my head for years, it never stuck."

"Perhaps they should have used a baseball bat," Lee promised, but both men were laughing.

"Okay," Lee said, "that's all I have to say on the matter. You're free to go whenever-" he glanced at Elizabeth, "-or stay as long as you like."

"Actually," Jack said, turning to Elizabeth and taking her hand, "do you mind if I go?"

"Oh!" Elizabeth said, surprised and rather disappointed, though she tried to pretend otherwise. "No, that's fine."

"Only, Carson mentioned earlier that he had something he wanted to show me," Jack explained. "You'll be here for another hour, at least-" he glanced at Lee.

"Something like that," Lee said with a shrug.

"-So I can get back in time to walk you home," Jack finished. "I'll be back by eight."

"You really don't have to," Elizabeth said, blushing.

"I know, but I'll be back by eight anyway," Jack said.

He packed his bag quickly as Lee returned to his desk to begin marking up Rosemary's essay, and dropped a fleeting kiss on Elizabeth's temple as he left the room.

"You two are so adorable I'd like to go blind," Rosemary said to Elizabeth once he was gone.

"Don't most people vomit?" Elizabeth asked, unoffended.

"Honestly, Elizabeth, when was the last time I did what 'most people' do?"

Elizabeth opened her mouth, then closed it again when she had to admit she had no answer.

"What are you working on?" Rosemary asked.

"Studying for next week's Psychology quiz," Elizabeth said. "You?"

"Screenwriting. Will you read this bit and tell me if it makes any sense at all?"

Rosemary turned her laptop toward Elizabeth and pointed. Elizabeth frowned at the screen for a long moment.

"The syntax is very strange," she said. "It's… It's almost as though the character is translating from another language into English as he speaks."

"Actually," Rosemary said, sounding surprised, "that's exactly what he's meant to be doing."

"Oh!" Elizabeth said. "In which case, it's very effective."

"But can you understand what he's trying to say there… in English?"

Elizabeth frowned at the screen again. "No," she said after a minute. "I'm afraid it's too much style, not enough substance."

"That's what my screenwriting teacher keeps saying," Rosemary said, sadly.

"Rosie?" Lee said, interrupting them. "I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but why does your paper keep referencing back to pre-war Germany?"

Rosemary gestured at her computer. "My screenwriting class."

Lee raised his eyebrows at her, and she sighed.

"I'm adapting a Phillip Kerr novel to the stage," she explained slowly, as though to a child.

"I have no idea who that is," Lee said flatly.

Rosemary rolled her eyes. "He wrote a series of noir detective novels set in the Weimar Republic, so that time and place have been on my mind."

"You couldn't have just said that straight out?" Lee asked.

Rosemary glared at him but didn't answer, allowing a prickly silence to come up between them.

"It sounds like a wonderful play," Elizabeth said, her tone studiously bright to alleviate the awkwardness. "Is it going to be performed?"

"No," Rosemary said. "It would make a brilliant stage production, but we haven't got the rights. For now it's just an academic exercise."

"Maybe someday," Elizabeth said warmly, returning her attention to her own work again.

After another ten minutes, Rosemary grunted in pleasure.

"Read it now," she said to Elizabeth, flipping her computer around.

Elizabeth's blue eyes scanned the screen quickly and then she met Rosemary's eyes and grinned.

"Much better!" she cried.

"I entered what I wanted to say in Google translate, translated it to German, and translated it back to English," Rosemary said with a giggle.

"Good idea, it obviously worked."

"Rosie?" Lee said, interrupting the girls, "I've got your paper."

Rosemary turned slowly from Elizabeth, closed her computer deliberately and finally, with hands folded primly across her lap, gave Lee her attention.

Following this performance, Lee looked rather sheepish, but made no mention of it as he passed Rosemary her paper.

"It's a good paper," he said, "references to Weimar and all. I've made a few notes and corrections, but nothing too bad."

Rosemary said nothing, just continued to look at Lee with her eyebrows raised.

Lee sighed. "It's a good essay up until page three when it becomes no longer an essay but an outline of an essay. It's a good outline, but obviously not finished."

"You did say you could bring what we had finished," Rosemary said. "I'm sorry to not be quite as prepared as Jack, but I do still have another week."

"Yes, but I wondered if you wanted me to look over your completed paper once it's done," Lee said.

"I thought you said you were going to start midterm prep at your next office hours," Rosemary said.

"I am. I'd thought maybe I could make some extra time on my night off. I'll host it at my apartment, and you're welcome to tell any other students whose essays you know are also unfinished. Perhaps I'll even have food available."

Elizabeth ducked her head behind her laptop screen to hide her smile.

Rosemary had told her a few weeks ago that, by university rules, she and Lee couldn't date while he was a GA in a course she was taking. It seemed Lee had found a way to circumvent the rules- Rosemary's only friends in the class were Jack and Elizabeth, both of whom were finished, as well he knew. He'd found a way to ask her to dinner at his place while still making it into classwork.

"I- um- I-" Rosemary stammered. Elizabeth had never seen her so flustered.. "I… I suppose we… that is… I'd love your thoughts on my finished paper."

Elizabeth peeked around her computer screen to see Lee and Rosemary, but as she did so, she caught sight of Charles Kensington watching them with a look that could only be described as disapproving. He seemed to notice her regard and his face went immediately blank for a moment before he smiled at her. Elizabeth did not smile back.

Rosemary and Lee didn't seem to be noticing much outside of themselves, both were pink about the ears and smiling foolishly.

"Elizabeth!" Rosemary cried as though suddenly remembering she was there. "I… um…" she glanced down and seemed to notice that she had closed her laptop. "I thought I might help you study!" she cried.

"Oh you don't have to do that," Elizabeth said, surprised. "It's just reviewing my notes and-"

"I can run through your flashcards with you," Rosemary interrupted.

"Flash cards? I don't-"

Rosemary narrowed her eyes. "Don't lie to me. Any girl who re-formats her papers so they can be edited has made flashcards for every test in every class she's ever taken. Where are yours,  _Hermione_?"

Elizabeth's mouth curled into a bow as annoyance and amusement warred on her face. Finally amusement seemed to win out and she ducked down to her bag and withdrew a case with 3x5 cards in it. She held out a stack of orange cards to a grinning Rosemary.

"What are the blue ones?" Rosemary asked.

"Early Childhood Education," Elizabeth said, eyes narrowing.

"And green?"

Elizabeth glanced at the box in her hand. "These green ones are biology. I have some darker green ones that are for my public speaking class."

"Pink?"

Elizabeth sighed. "The pink ones are where, when I'm doing research, I write down a reference that I want to use and approximately what it said so I don't lose it when I actually get around to writing the paper."

Rosemary laughed delightedly. "And Jack thought that dating you would make him a worse student. Sounds like you're going to show him how it's done."

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose, but looked pleased. "You wanted to quiz me?"

"Yes of course," Rosemary said, finally managing to bring herself under control. "Let's see what we have here. This one looks nice, 'what event is considered the founding of scientific psychology?'"

"German philosopher Wilhelm Wundt founded the first psychological laboratory in 1879," Elizabeth answered without hesitation. "Skip to the ones marked with a '4' in the corner."

Rosemary flipped through the cards until she came across one she seemed to like. "Parietal lobes," she read.

"Puh-rye-uh-tal," Elizabeth pronounced. "That's the portion of the cerebral cortex that receives sensory input for touch and body position."

Rosemary rolled her eyes and skipped several more cards. "Dual processing," she tried.

"Information processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks," Elizabeth said.

"Why do you even bother studying?" Rosemary asked. "You know it all."

Elizabeth smiled. "I only know it because I've studied it. Why don't I quiz you for a bit?"

Rosemary snorted. "I haven't made flash cards for any of my classes!"

Elizabeth pulled a stack of yellow cards from the box she still held. "These are for this class. What do you say?"

Rosemary sighed and rolled her eyes, but settled back to be quizzed.

"Do you want terms or definitions?" Elizabeth asked.

"Terms are easier to remember, give me the definitions," Rosemary said.

"What is the ability to produce a good using fewer inputs than another producer?"

Rosemary frowned in thought for a long moment. Elizabeth glanced up to find that both Lee and Charles were watching this performance rather avidly.

"Don't you two have papers to be marking?" she asked sharply.

"Absolute advantage!" Rosemary cried, then turned and gave a triumphant look at the two men, both of whom had bent their heads back over their papers straight away.

"Excellent," Elizabeth said, flipping through her cards. "Okay, this one's harder. List the unemployment types. There are three."

"Frictional, structural, cyclical," Rosemary said immediately, making a song of it. "I remember that one-"

"Because you can sing it," Elizabeth finished for her. "Yeah, we can remember almost anything with a rhythm. We talk about that in Early Ed all the time."

"I should put all these terms into one of those patter songs like Modern Major General," Rosemary said, taking the cards from Elizabeth's hands and starting to look through them. "Trade deficits are caused by unequal tariffing," she started, finding a card and trying to set its information to her rhythm, "and jobs go obsolete because of new technologies-" she stopped singing and looked at Elizabeth. "'Technology' and 'tariffing' don't rhyme."

"You should probably also keep like information with like," Elizabeth said. "Keep all of your tariff and open economy stuff in one stanza and move to unemployment in a different stanza."

"Mmmm," Rosemary continued to look through the cards, pulling a some out at random and setting them on her table. "I think it could be done."

"Probably," Elizabeth agreed, "but unless you've decided you want to teach the subject to kids, I'm not sure it's a great use of your time. Patter songs stay in your head forever."

"I'd be pleased if I could keep what I've learned in my head through the midterm," Rosemary said, sighing. "I've never been great at holding onto things that don't interest me."

Elizabeth patted her arm. "You'll be fine. Lee is going to go over the study guide next week, and I can run flashcards with you as well, if you want. You'd be welcome to come to my house."

"You're sweet, Elizabeth," Rosemary said.

Elizabeth smiled back and turned her attention to getting her flashcards back in their box,

"Actually, that  _is_ a really good idea," Rosemary said.

Elizabeth froze. Something about Rosemary's tone made her feel like she were a rabbit who had just heard the swoop of an owl's wing over head.

"What is?" she asked, warily.

"Studying at your house!" Rosemary said as though this were obvious. "We should all get together and study for midterms, and your place is perfect- much bigger and more comfortable than any of the dorm rooms. If we all do it together, it'll keep us honest. We can quiz each other if necessary, and it makes it feel more like a party than work."

"Who is 'all'?" Elizabeth asked. She didn't have many friends at school yet aside from Faith, Rosemary, and Jack.

"Me and Jack, of course. Carson, I think. Doug. Maybe Jesse- I swear that boy never studies. If I could convince his girlfriend, Clara, I could probably get him though. Dottie, I think. I'll ask around."

Elizabeth felt a little faint, imagining so many people in her little house. For goodness' sake, she only had one bathroom!

"I would… er… I'd have to run it by Faith," she hedged.

"Oh, I'll ask Faith myself!" Rosemary said, pulling her phone from her pocket and scrolling busily away. "Don't you worry your pretty head about a thing, Elizabeth. I'll manage everything."

Elizabeth wondered if there were three more terrifying words in the entire English language.

"Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth blinked and looked over at Lee who was hiding his smile with difficulty and waving her paper gently in front of him. He crossed the room to her and sat in front of her, passing the pages over.

She flipped through the pages quickly and raised an eyebrow at him. "Did you read it?"

Lee chuckled. "I did, and it was brilliant. Well researched, well argued… well, except for the conclusion which read distinctly as though you smashed it out five minutes before printing it out for me," he gave her a cheeky grin, "but I have a feeling Elizabeth Thatcher wasn't about to turn that in anyway. I did make a few marks on your footnote and bibliography formatting." He rolled his eyes. "I so wish high schools would just stop teaching MLA as almost no one uses it once they get to college and it just confuses things when we switch you to APA."

"Right," Elizabeth said, turning through the pages more carefully. "I'll work on those."

Elizabeth wasn't paying attention, but Lee appeared to be gearing himself up for something.

"It's a really excellent paper, but I have to recommend you don't turn it in to Dr. Gowan," he said, finally.

"What?" Elizabeth cried.

"What do you mean?" Rosemary asked, paying attention to the conversation again.

"Gowan literally wrote the book on capitalist theory," Lee said. "You've been using it as a textbook. You can't turn in what is effectively an anti-capitalist argument to him and expect him to appreciate it."

"It's not anti-capitalist!" Elizabeth argued.

At the same time, Rosemary said, "he doesn't have to agree with her to grade her paper. Teachers do it all the time."

Lee took these arguments one at a time, starting with Rosemary. "Teachers do, but Gowan is… opinionated. He doesn't take well to people disagreeing with him." He turned to Elizabeth. "You argue that one of the central tenets of capitalism is not only wrong, but morally dubious. That's not anti-capitalist?"

"My grandfather made his fortunes in the industrial revolution," Elizabeth said with an ironic twist of her mouth. "If anyone can speak to the benefits of  _laissez faire_  capitalism, surely it's me?"

"Your father and grandfather may be pillars of industry, but  _you_  are a public school teacher at heart," Lee said. "You're going to be in a  _union_." He laughed as Elizabeth smiled. "I think your father may have accidentally raised a socialist."

"Bite your tongue," Elizabeth said, smiling puckishly. "He's already horrified he raised a Democrat, find out the other and he'll disown me."

"My lips are sealed. But this paper-"

Elizabeth shook her head, face going stubborn. "Dr. Gowan can't fail a well-reasoned, well-researched argument just because I don't agree with one of his book's theses. That's not how teaching works! His opinions can't dictate his grades."

"His opinions  _shouldn't_ dictate his grades, Elizabeth," Lee said. "You've been in this class long enough to know that Gowan is a class-A asshole."

"It's too late," Elizabeth said. "I can't write another paper in a week. Not one I'd feel good about turning in."

"I don't care if he's the most stubborn, intractable man on the planet," Rosemary objected. "He cannot fail Elizabeth's paper just because he disagrees with her. Not if she's done the work and made a good argument. That's not what education is about." She looked at Elizabeth and her face fell into stubborn lines. "If he fails Elizabeth, we'll take him up on disciplinary charges."

Elizabeth looked suddenly nervous. "Oh no, I couldn't possibly do that!"

"You can," Rosemary said, quite certain. "I'll be there to help."

Elizabeth frowned, then shook her head. "It doesn't matter. He can't possibly fail me. No one becomes a teacher expecting every student to agree with them on every matter."

Lee looked dubious, but said nothing.

"It will be fine," Elizabeth said, looking down at her paper. "It will be fine," she repeated quietly, as though trying to convince herself.

"Shoot, is that the time?" Rosemary cried. "It's a quarter after eight! I've got to get back to the dorm right now, I've got games with my residents in ten minutes. I'm going to be late!"

Everyone startled and looked at the clock which, sure enough, showed 8:15.

"I'll give you a ride back to the dorm, Rosie," Lee said. "My car's just out back, it'll be faster than trying to run."

"I'll take you up on that," she said, shoving her laptop and books haphazardly into her bag. "I figured Jack would come up to get Elizabeth if we weren't done by 8. Wonder where he is."

"Maybe he got a call and is outside answering it," Elizabeth said, hitching her bag over her shoulder. "His brother calls at odd hours sometimes."

"Tom doesn't keep normal hours," Rosemary agreed. "You ready?" Elizabeth nodded. Rosemary turned to Lee who also nodded. Then she noticed that Charles was also standing with his own briefcase in hand. "Oh, are you coming too?" she asked, looking surprised.

"I thought I would," he said. "Shall we?" He gestured the girls to the door and they, after exchanging an amused look, set off together followed quickly by Lee and Charles.

In the chilly dark in the front of the library, they were surprised to find no Jack. Elizabeth took out her phone to check, though she had already done so twice since seeing the time. There was no message from him.

Rosemary, quicker with her phone even than Elizabeth, had dialed his number and was waiting for him to pick up already. After a moment she made a disgusted noise and pulled it away from her ear.

"Not picking up," she said. "The inconsiderate-"

"I can give you a ride back to your place after I drop Rosemary off, Elizabeth," Lee interrupted quickly.

"That's the complete opposite direction," Elizabeth said. "Besides, I'm sure Jack will be here any moment. I'll wait for him."

Rosemary hesitated. "Are you sure you'll be alright?" she asked. "I mean, it's late and cold and-"

Elizabeth laughed. "It's eight o'clock, Rosie! And the library doesn't close for another four hours! I'm pretty sure I'm in about the safest spot I could possibly be."

Rosemary still looked hesitant. "Well-"

"I'll stay with her if that will make you more comfortable," Charles said.

"No!" Elizabeth said quickly. "Like I said, I'm fine here. No one will bother me, and if they do, I can just go back into the library."

"Your friend shows admirable loyalty in her concern for you," Charles said, making Elizabeth wrinkle her nose slightly at his patronizing tone. "I've nowhere to be just now, so if it helps everyone feel more sanguine, I'm happy to remain."

Elizabeth met Rosemary's eyes, and the older girl shrugged. "I would feel better, if I'm honest," she said.

Elizabeth sighed. "Fine, fine. Now get out of here, you're going to be late even in the car at this point."

Rosemary looked shocked and quickly hurried a waving Lee away, leaving Elizabeth and Charles alone in the yellow light of the library.

Elizabeth sat gingerly on one of the cold stone benches that flanked the entrance, and Charles sat beside her, nearly halfway down the bench, leaving fully two feet of space between them. It was a more-than comfortable distance to leave between two nodding acquaintances, and yet Elizabeth still felt constricted by his presence. She wanted to pull out a book to read so she could pretend to ignore him, but the light was bad for it, and she didn't really feel like going inside.

"We've missed you in Spanish Club," Charles said. "I am sorry you didn't join. How is your Intro to Spanish class going?"

Elizabeth was startled at how much he'd remembered about her. "Well," she said. "You were right, he does prefer to be called Miguel. You were also right that it's not at all unlike French. I get the two mixed up in my head sometimes."

"Yes, you may find that never really goes away, but if you ever travel in Spain, rather than Central or South America, you'll find that many Spanish speakers will understand if you slip a French word in on occasion," Charles said.

"Yes," Elizabeth said, "I'm sure that's the case. I'm a bit more worried about my future students, many of whom English will be their second language and Spanish their first. Hopefully I don't confuse them terribly by speaking French when they need Spanish."

"So Coulter was telling the truth?" Charles said, sounding a bit surprised. "You  _are_  going to be a public school teacher?"

Elizabeth shrugged uncomfortably. "The hope is to someday be a principal or administrator, but yes, my passion is the public school system. I mentioned it in my paper quite a bit, that's how he could tell."

"I am curious at what you found to object to in Dr. Gowan's theses," Charles said. "I've always found them quite sound."

"Oh?" Elizabeth said. "Well, my paper mostly objects to the idea that capitalism rewards necessity or work or even innovation."

"What?" Charles asked. "Of course capitalism rewards work!"

"Not in my experience," Elizabeth said. "Take my father and I, for instance. He went public with his company when I was a child and has essentially not had to go into the office since. He makes his money through investment and makes between $2 and 30 million per year. I, on the other hand, will objectively be doing significantly more work than he does daily, and am likely never to make more than $65 thousand."

"Your father did the work of building his company-" Charles objected.

"My grandfather actually did that," Elizabeth said. "But even then, what actual work did my grandfather do? The people who  _worked_  in his factories, his employees, made pennies a day. My grandfather grew fat on their work." She shrugged. "It is the same all over. Those jobs which are objectively necessary- teachers, police officers, nurses, janitors- are paid a pittance while jobs which are far less objectively necessary- hedge fund managers, football players- are wildly overpaid."

"The market has deemed them necessary!" Charles cried, apparently having found a crack in her argument. "They are paid what the market will bear! If we decided that football players weren't worth millions of dollars, we would stop paying them that!"

"Even with football players," Elizabeth said, standing and beginning to pace, "the players themselves make very little money when compared with the sports industrial complex that is built around them. Who makes the real money in football, eh? The owners, managers, and executives of the NFL, right?"

"But-"

"But they've created the industry, yes I know," Elizabeth interrupted, gesturing as though she wanted him to move ahead more quickly, "but that's really my point, you see? Capitalism rewards making  _money_ , not work, not industry, not innovation. Hedge fund managers, team owners, and men who invest their money in stocks create more money in the economy, and are rewarded by capitalism. CEOs make stockholders feel rich, so we pay them more than the desk jockeys who do the actual work every day. Football team owners bring in advertisers and sponsorships, so we pay them more than the men cracking their heads open for our entertainment.

"Schools can't make money, that's not what they're for, so capitalism undervalues them, where if we really did reward necessity, they would be palaces. There would be no underfunded hospitals. But there are, so there's no way that capitalism can possibly reward objective value." Elizabeth shrugged and gave him a twisted smile. "That's what my paper's about."

"That is extremely dangerous. Lee was right to warn you. You should rewrite it."

Elizabeth's spine straightened and she looked down her nose at him like the Thatcher she was.

"I will not rewrite it," she said imperiously. "My argument is grounded in facts and my essay is well-written. I think I'm right, though I am not such a fool as to think there's no chance that I'm not. I don't have to be right though, I'm 19, I'm going to hold a lot of incorrect opinions in my life. I am, however, due a respectful audience, particularly from my teachers, whether they agree with me or not."

"Damn straight!"

Elizabeth turned at the sound of the voice. "Jack!" she cried, grinning up at him.

"Hey beautiful, sorry I'm late," he said then, without anything else said, he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her hard on the mouth before God, Charles, and anyone else who might care to look.

Charles cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yes well… if you're here to escort Elizabeth home, I shall get on with my evening."

Jack lifted his head briefly, and gave Charles a cheerful smile. "See you 'round, Chuck," he said, before dropping his lips to Elizabeth's again.

Several minutes later, Elizabeth turned her face away from Jack's.

"Not that I mind," she said breathlessly as Jack continued to kiss her cheeks and down her neck, "but what on Earth was that for?"

Jack wasn't  _against_  PDA, necessarily, but he usually wasn't quite so blatantly possessive about the matter.

"That guy grew up thinking you were writing 'Mrs. Charles Kensington' and 'Elizabeth Thatcher-Kensington' in little hearts on your notebooks," Jack murmured in her ear, making her shiver. "Now he's thinking it might have been smarter if he'd been writing 'Charles Thatcher.'"

Elizabeth laughed and tried to squirm away from him, but Jack held her fast.

"First, that's not how last names work most of the time. Second, Charles doesn't even like me. I'm too much a socialist, as you might have discovered if you'd stuck around Lee's office hours."

"Hmmm, you clearly didn't see how he was looking at you, Elizabeth. That man thinks you hung the moon. Not that I can quite tell him he's wrong," he added, grinning, before kissing her again.

Elizabeth pulled away, half-breathless. "Now stop that. What did Carson want to show you?"

"New video game," Jack said, trying to get back at her mouth. "I lost track of time watching him play the the first bit."

"Nice to know that Carson's video game was more interesting than hanging out with me tonight," Elizabeth said, continuing to dodge him.

"Now cut that out," Jack said, taking one hand from her waist and anchoring it in her hair so that he could kiss her again. "If I'd known it was a video game, I'd never have left," he said against her mouth.

"Mmmm," Elizabeth said, sinking into his kiss again for several long moments.

"You know," she said, when Jack came up for air again, "we're still out in front of the library."

Jack looked up at the glass front of the old building without much interest. "Fancy that," he said before ducking his head as though to kiss her again."

"Stop that now, I'm serious," Elizabeth said, giggling and ducking his kiss and squirming out of his arms in earnest. "Walk me home, Jack, and if you're a perfect gentleman on the way, I'll invite you inside for a cup of coffee and a goodnight kiss."


	8. FS1010: Introduction to Viticulture and Enology

Elizabeth sat at her desk in her bedroom glaring at her midterm schedule as though through sheer annoyance she could make it say something other than what it said.

Ever since she has turned in her paper to Dr. Gowan, the very thought of the class made her stomach twist in nauseated anxiety.

And yet, she had set this Saturday morning aside to study for her midterms and Economics was her next one. The little voice in her head that had her compulsively saving her papers after every page, then copying the file onto three different hard drives afterwards would not let her skip ahead to the next class' midterm, even if she hadn't been much more certain of the material that would be on that test.

She pulled out the study guide that Lee had passed out and gone over with them the week before and set it near the center of her desk, but offset to the left so it was in easy reach of that hand, twitching it carefully so the edges were parallel with the edge of her desk. She set her notebook in the middle of her desk, one careful half-inch away from the paper, and her textbook to the right, the bottom corners of all of them making a neat row.

Elizabeth sighed and wondered if a cup of coffee would make her feel more like studying.

"You're stalling, Thatcher," she muttered to herself, even as she got up and left her room for the kitchen.

She was sitting on the kitchen counter halfway through her first cup of coffee when Faith appeared in the kitchen and stopped short, looking at Elizabeth in horror.

"You're not ready!" she cried.

Elizabeth looked down at herself- black yoga pants, an oversized fleecy sweatshirt, and fuzzy socks, and looked back at Faith, one eyebrow raised imperiously.

"My plans for the day are to study for my Econ midterm, eat some lunch, study for my Spanish midterm, and then either watch a romcom to let my brain decompress or, if I'm feeling particularly saucy, go to the library to work on my final paper for Early Childhood. Pretty sure I'm ready for any of that."

"You can't study today!" Faith said. "It's homecoming!"

"I honestly don't see how that affects me," Elizabeth said.

As though this were a cue, there was a knock on their front door followed immediately by Rosemary, Jack, Carson, Dottie, and a few others that Elizabeth didn't know all wearing school colors and trooping in as though they owned the place.

Rosemary came into the kitchen first.

"You said she was ready to go," she said accusingly to Faith.

"I heard her come downstairs and start making coffee, I assumed she was!" Faith said.

"Ready for what?" Elizabeth cried. "Nobody told me I was expected to do something today! What is going on?"

"It's homecoming!" Rosemary said in just the same tone that Faith had used only a minute before.

"If that explained anything, which it doesn't," Elizabeth said, her back going up now, "the game doesn't even start until 5."

"Tailgaiting starts first thing," Faith said,

"It's 9:30 in the morning!" Elizabeth cried.

Rosemary shrugged. "We have bagels. Faith said you'd picked up soda and chips, we thought you must know!"

"I picked up soda and chips because you'd been talking about people coming over to study!" Elizabeth said.

"You can't study today-" Rosemary began as though this were obvious.

"It's homecoming," Elizabeth said, having gotten a feel for the rhythm of this exchange.

She considered for a moment. If she were honest with herself, spending a day in the cool autumn sunshine with her friends and classmates did sound like a lot more fun than studying economics. She even had three more days to study for it, she told the annoyed voice in her head. Attending university was not just about getting her degree, after all.

Jack poked his head into the kitchen. "Everything alright?" he asked, glancing around. He grinned as his eyes landed on Elizabeth, but his grin faded slightly as he took her in.

"Aren't you coming?" he asked, hopeful and sad in equal parts, like a blue-eyed puppy.

That decided her.

"Yes, I suppose I am," Elizabeth said on a sigh, boosting herself off the counter. "I'm going to change."

"I'll help," Faith said. Elizabeth gave her a disbelieving look and Faith just glared back. "You have to wear school colors, and you can't be trusted today," she said.

"Oh, I'll come too!" Rosemary said, excited.

"Pour us a cup of coffee and you're welcome," Faith said. Rosemary saluted as Faith pushed Elizabeth into the busy living room and toward the stairs.

"Coffee's in the kitchen," Faith called over the babble. "There's orange juice in the fridge too if you want it," she added as she pushed Elizabeth up the stairs.

Rosemary joined them in Elizabeth's room about thirty seconds later, holding two mugs of coffee and closing the door on the tumult behind them and looking around.

"You know, given your study habits, I was expecting it to be neater," she decided, taking a seat on the edge of the bed with its crumpled duvet.

"I'm probably lucky my compulsions end when I walk away from my desk," Elizabeth said, stripping her yoga pants off and pulling on her jeans without a care that there were two witnesses to her green polka-dot underpants.

"How do you still not have any school swag?" Faith asked, exasperated, as she pulled her head out of Elizabeth's closet.

"I keep thinking I ought to buy some and then not getting around to it," Elizabeth said as she stripped off her sweatshirt and dug in a drawer for a bra.

"She's holding out for Jack's sweatshirt," Rosemary stage-whispered to Faith as she joined her at the closet. "Jesus, Elizabeth," she said after glancing through, "you should embrace the saturated color someday. It's all the rage."

"Pastels look good on me," Elizabeth answered easily as she brushed her hair out over the vanity. "I think I've got a few red things in the chest over there though."

Faith moved to dig in the chest of drawers as Rosemary examined Elizabeth for a moment in her jeans and bra.

"You know, I'd always figured you for a bra-matches-the-panties sort of a girl," she said.

Elizabeth glanced down at herself and shrugged. "Not usually. There's only one type of bra I like, so I stock up when they go on sale. I'm a magpie about underpants though, and will pick up a new pair if I happen to see one I like that isn't too horribly expensive."

"Found it!" Faith cried, straightening with a scrap of red cloth in hand. "I think I saw a white sweater in the closet," she added throwing the shirt across the room in Elizabeth's general direction. "It's too cold to spend the day in just a t-shirt."

Elizabeth glanced down when the shirt hit the floor beside her feet and shook her head as she finished twisting her hair into a knot on the back of her head. The shirt would muss it, but it hadn't been horribly neat to begin with. She bent to pick it up just as the cardigan sailed into the room and landed on her head.

"Charming," she muttered, pulling it off and making the other girls laugh. "Can I choose my own shoes or will those need to be vetted as well?"

Rosemary and Faith didn't bother to answer her, they just turned toward the closet again together to examine the options.

"No heels," Rosemary said straight off.

"And it's too cold for sandals or ballet flats I think," Faith decided.

"It's never too cold for ballet flats," Elizabeth said, and was completely ignored.

"Which leaves us with blue Chucks and pink running shoes.

"My ballet flats are my neutrals," Elizabeth sing-songed as she pulled out socks.

"I think it's going to have to be the Chucks," Faith said.

"Don't throw them," Elizabeth ordered as Faith bent to pick the shoes up.

Faith turned and handed the shoes across with a sarcastically-sweet smile.

"Put those on and you're ready to go," she said.

Elizabeth glanced down at them, and then back up at her roommate. "No makeup?"

Rosemary glanced at her watch. "Only what you can put on in three minutes," she said.

Elizabeth pulled her shoes on without unlacing them and hurried from the room.

Faith and Rosemary sat together on the edge of the bed giggling.

After a moment, Rosemary bumped Faith's shoulder with her own. "We're not pushing her too hard, are we?"

"Elizabeth?" Faith asked, surprised.

"Yeah. She just seems so accommodating and sweet. I don't want to take advantage of her or something," Rosemary said.

Faith snorted. "Elizabeth's got a steel spine under that sweet smile. If we were pushing her to do something she didn't want, she'd let us know. She's actually very stubborn, she's just diplomatic about it."

"Good," Rosemary said, and she was so emphatic that Faith looked at her in surprise. Rosemary shrugged. "I've been worried about her and Jack. He's a gentleman, but I was a little worried that Elizabeth might be too sweet to even say 'no' if she wanted to."

Faith shook her head. "I wouldn't worry about those two. I'd guess it'll actually be harder for her to say 'yes' when she wants to than 'no.'"

Elizabeth returned, putting paid to their conversation, and spun in front of them.

"Do I pass?" she asked, half-amused, half-exasperated.

"You'll do," Faith said, jumping up and grabbing her arm to pull her out of the bedroom and toward their friends. "Come on!"

~?~?~?~?~

Elizabeth was introduced to Jesse and his girlfriend Clara as Jack handed her into the bed of the truck that Jesse was driving. It was Jesse's Uncle Frank's truck, she learned as she took a seat next to Rosemary, back against the side. Uncle Frank might be joining them later on.

She was introduced to Doug when he scrambled into the back of the truck after her and took the seat on the other side of her, offering her his hand to shake.

"Doug Burke," he said with a cheerful grin. "Jack and I went to high school together. He's a year ahead of me though. He's been introducing me around since I got here."

"Oh?" Elizabeth said, amused. "Wonder why it's taken him so long to introduce you to me."

Doug sniggered. "It's 'cause I was always better with girls than he is, and he didn't want me stealing you from him."

"In your dreams, Burke," Jack said, stepping up to the pair of them. "Shift down, I'm sitting next to Elizabeth."

"You know," Elizabeth said, even as Doug complied, "I'm quite enjoying my talk with Doug."

"Yeah," Jack said, sliding between the pair of them and putting an arm around Elizabeth's shoulders, "that's what I'm worried about."

Grinning, Elizabeth leaned forward to talk around Jack to Doug. "So what was Jack like in high school?" she asked. "Rosemary's told me a few stories, but you seem to have known him pretty well. Were you on the soccer team together?"

Doug laughed as Jack groaned and dropped his head back on the side of the truck bed.

"Yeah, he and I used to get up to all sorts of trouble," Doug said. "We liked to pull pranks. We once put a Christmas tree on the roof of the gym- totally decorated, lit, everything. Jack's old man almost caught us that time. That would have been… Jack's sophomore year then, if Officer Thornton was…" Doug stopped suddenly, and Elizabeth became aware of an odd tension in the group.

She looked around and found Jack looking daggers at Doug, Rosemary looking worriedly at Jack, and Doug looking like he'd swallowed a razor blade.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked. "What happened?"

Doug looked up at Jack and then quickly back down at his knees, shaking his head.

Elizabeth looked at Jack, who looked as though he might have been carved of stone suddenly, and then at Rosemary.

"Jack's father died his junior year," Rosemary said softly. "He was a police officer and there was-"

"It's not a safe job," Jack said, and his voice was harsher than Elizabeth had ever heard it- even during those days when he'd practically hated her on sight. "It never is."

"I'm sorry, Jack," Elizabeth said, gently. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that. You and your mother and Tom."

"Sorry I brought it up, Jack," Doug mumbled, not looking up. "I shouldn't have… sorry."

Jack said nothing, and Elizabeth reached out for his hand, the one across his body from hers, and the other was resting across the side of the truck behind her shoulders. He let her take it, but didn't relax his hand into her grip, so instead she gently massaged his hand between hers as the truck bumped along through the student neighborhoods and toward the football stadium.

When the truck stopped in the parking lot, Jack was up and out of the bed in what seemed like an instant. Doug watched him go, looking miserable, but Elizabeth turned to Rosemary.

"Should I go talk to him?" she asked seriously. "Would he be better alone, do you think? Or you?"

Elizabeth cursed how little she really knew Jack. She hadn't known, for instance, that his father had died three years before, and didn't know how he would handle having that grief revealed in such a thoughtless way. She wasn't sure how he would deal with his anger at Doug, nor how it would affect him the rest of the day either.

Rosemary frowned as she gave the matter serious thought. "I think you," she said. "He should have told you before now anyway, but obviously he didn't. He never talks about the important stuff, the coward."

"He's not a coward," Elizabeth said.

Rosemary smiled and squeezed Elizabeth's hand. "You're so loyal. That's why he needs you. Go talk to him, and do ask him not to be mad at Doug, okay?"

Elizabeth nodded, got up, and scrambled out of the bed of the truck. She looked around- the parking lot was covered with people preparing their tailgates, and annoyingly they were all wearing the same color. Lucky for her, Jack was tall and blonde and she picked him out after a couple of sweeps.

She took off toward him at a jog, dodging other people's picnics and camp chairs. She didn't bother to call for him- if he'd even been able to hear her over everything else, he'd probably have run from her.

She caught up to him fairly quickly and fell into step beside him.

"I don't want to talk about it, Elizabeth," Jack said immediately.

"I didn't ask you to," Elizabeth said. They walked a few more steps, then Elizabeth wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder, allowing him the comfort of her body.

They walked together like that to the edge of the stadium parking lot, a grassy hill overlooking the south side of campus. Jack sat in the grass, his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms around them, and Elizabeth sat beside him.

"Our town isn't really known for being dangerous," Jack said after a long moment.

"You don't have to, Jack," Elizabeth said.

He turned to look at her sideways, resting his cheek on his knees. "I want you to know," he said. "You deserve to know, and I should have told you awhile ago."

"Not like there's a great time to bring that up," Elizabeth said with a shrug. "Let's grab coffee before we study, oh and did you know my dad died when I was a kid?"

Jack gave her a tense smile. "Suppose not, but I probably should have said something anyway. I know your politics, Elizabeth, and-"

"Jack!" Elizabeth interrupted, looking horrified. "I don't believe for an instant that your father was one of those police officers who would abuse their authority!"

Jack really smiled this time, and reached out a hand to brush along Elizabeth's arm.

"That's what I lo-like about you, Elizabeth," he said. "You believe the best of everyone."

"You know perfectly well that's not true," Elizabeth said primly. "But where you're concerned… yes. I suppose I do."

"Thanks for that, Elizabeth. But, to be honest, I'm not sure you're right to think that. I really can't promise you that my dad was a good cop. Just that, when he died… The guy obviously had a gun, but he was Hispanic- the only non-white family in town, actually- and my dad… well. And there were some things that were said-"

"Surely nobody told you that your father was…" Elizabeth began, horrified, then trailed off, not even sure what Jack was suggesting.

"God no," Jack said quickly. "No, nobody would have told me anything straight out. I was a kid, for one, and my mother… she can be terrifying when she's in a mood. No, no one said anything, but after Dad died, there was a big push for body cameras and pacifism training, so I wonder if maybe…" Jack shrugged. "I really don't know, but given everything in the last few years, it made me think about it a lot. Reevaluate him as a man and as a cop."

"I see," Elizabeth said, unsure what else she  _could_  say.

Jack barely seemed to notice. "I was afraid you'd hate me because my dad might have been everything you hate about the police, but I was also afraid you'd be afraid of me because I want to be a cop like him." He turned and looked at her again, serious and thoughtful. "I think my mother hated being a cop's wife."

Elizabeth's insides felt as though they had vanished. They'd never talked about anything like that before, and she wasn't sure this was the right time in any case.

"Why?" she asked, barely more than a whisper. "Why  _do_  you want to be a police officer?"

Jack sighed and turned to look out over the campus again, giving it some thought.

"I think a lot of people become cops to prove something to themselves or the world. I'm no different from them that way," he said, "but I think a lot of them are trying to prove something about being capable or strong or… well… manly." He shrugged. "I'm trying to prove to myself that there's at least one cop out there who's in it for the right reasons- to help people." He turned back to her and smiled slightly. "You might say it's a calling. You'd understand that, I think."

She smiled back. "I would, yeah."

She reached out and took his hand, winding her fingers through his, and turned to look out over the campus with him. She wanted to ask him about the comment he'd made about cops' wives, but couldn't think how best to word it. After a few minutes, she decided to let it go- a problem for a different day.

"We should go back," Jack said, squeezing her hand.

"Yeah," Elizabeth said with a sigh. "You'll tell Doug you're not mad at him anymore?"

"Of course," Jack said, pushing himself off the ground, then turning and offering her his hand to help her up. "Poor old Bug. I'm sure he's beating himself up right now."

"Doubtless. Bug?"

Jack laughed. "Team nickname. Sometimes we called him Burke, sometimes Doug, and it just all got mixed together into Bug."

"Oh? And what was your team nickname?" Elizabeth asked with a bright grin and a puckish glint in her eye.

"I'll never tell," Jack said, grinning back. "Torture me if you like, I'll take it to my grave."

Elizabeth reached out, quick as a snake, and poked him in the ribs so Jack let out a high, unmanly giggle and jumped away from her. He looked at her wide-eyed for a moment, then took off at a run, Elizabeth chasing after him, both of them laughing.

~?~?~?~?~

Back at the truck, Jack vanished in one direction in search of Doug, and Elizabeth went in the other to find Rosemary. She was seated on the tailgate beside faith, with a plate of bagels between them and two bottles of champagne and one of orange juice in a tub of ice beneath their feet.

"Elizabeth!" Rosemary cried in greeting. "All well in paradise again? Jack's feeling more himself?"

"He seems to be," Elizabeth said. She pulled a bottle of champagne from the ice and held it up. "Is this for general consumption?"

"Yup," Faith said with a grin, reaching behind her and handing Elizabeth a red solo cup. "It's not Waterford Crystal," she said ironically.

"I much prefer this, thank you," Elizabeth said, primly. "Waterford Crystal is more effort than it's worth."

"Elizabeth Thatcher," Rosemary said, watching Elizabeth pour champagne carefully into her cup, "I'm surprised at you."

"Oh?" Elizabeth said, glancing up with a raised eyebrow. "Because I was able to calm Jack down?"

Rosemary snorted and waved this away with a dramatic gesture. "Of course not, I always knew you could do that. He's crazy about you. No. You, Elizabeth, are not of age."

Elizabeth, who had just bent down to trade her bottle of champagne for the orange juice, looked up in surprise. "Neither is Faith," she said, sounding confused. "Or Doug… or Jack, for that matter."

Again, Rosemary waved this objection away. "We public school kids start drinking the first time our parents leave us alone in our house for a weekend. I figured you, studious Catholic schoolgirl with overbearing parents that you are, would never have touched the stuff."

Elizabeth and Faith exchanged a shocked look, and both started laughing.

"Faith's mom doesn't drink," Elizabeth said, responding to Rosemary's confused look. "I gave her her first drink at my parents' house when we were in high school."

"Elizabeth doesn't even  _remember_  her first drink," Faith giggled.

"What?" Rosemary cried, shocked.

Elizabeth boosted herself onto the tailgate and took a sip of her mimosa. "I don't," she admitted, "but they tell the story often enough that I feel like I do. My grandmother… she's the kind of eccentric that only rich old ladies get to be. She drinks nothing but single-malt scotch and smokes Cuban cigars that she brought back with her from before there was an embargo with Cuba. When I was three or four I apparently asked for a sip of her Coke- I apparently thought her scotch was coke- and she thought it was so funny she gave it to me."

"That… you surely didn't like it," Rosemary said.

"Heavens no!" Elizabeth said. "My mother always says she wished she'd had a camera on her so she could have gotten pictures of my face. She cries laughing whenever she tells the story." Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "After that, my next drink was probably when I was 13. At my birthday supper my father allowed me a sherry glass of the same wine he was drinking, and after that I was allowed a small glass at any holiday dinner. When I was 16 I was allowed to start attending his business parties where there was an open bar and my father was paying the bartender. When we were 17, I was allowed to bring Faith to one and the two of us got snockered on amaretto sours."

"Was your father upset?" Rosemary asked.

"I don't think he noticed," Elizabeth said airily.

"Everyone was a little blasted by that point," Faith explained. "Elizabeth and I just crawled off to her room to sleep it off."

"Mostly in the ensuite," Elizabeth continued, "but we did make it to bed eventually."

"Honestly, it's probably a miracle either of us are willing to drink at all after that. Even now I can't smell amaretto without feeling nauseous," Faith said with a slight shudder.

"No," Elizabeth agreed vehemently.

"So what do you drink?" Rosemary asked.

Elizabeth shrugged. "Wine, champagne-" she held up her red cup as an example, "my older sister drinks vodka martinis."

"Her dad drinks gin martinis and whiskey, her mom drinks Old Fashioned's and Manhattan's," Faith continued for her.

"Basically, if you can imagine a Kennedy drinking it, I probably know how to make it," Elizabeth concluded with a shrug.

"No scotch?" Rosemary teased.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Scotch tastes like someone used a nice whiskey to rinse out an ashtray. I've never gotten the taste for it."

"That's very evocative, Elizabeth. You should write a book," said a new voice.

"Abigail!" the girls cried, jumping up together.

Abigail laughed and accepted their hugs.

"I went by the house to see if the two of you wanted to come to the game with me," Abigail said to her two tenants, "but when you weren't there I figured you were probably already here."

"Did you come looking for us?" Faith asked.

"Ah, no," Abigail said, and if Elizabeth hadn't known better she'd have thought her friend was blushing. "I came over to say hello to Frank. This is his truck, isn't it?"

The girls exchanged a look. "We came with Jesse," Rosemary said.

"He did mention an Uncle Frank," Elizabeth said.

"And that Uncle Frank would be coming by later," Faith added.

Elizabeth was sure of it this time: Abigail blushed. She even reached up as though to pat her hair, though she caught herself and quickly turned the gesture into one that tucked a strand behind her ear.

Faith caught Elizabeth's eye and both girls had to look away to keep from giggling.

"Well," Abigail was saying, "maybe I can come back by later and say hello if he's here then."

"Or," Faith cut in, quickly, "you could just hang out with us until he arrives. Then you're sure not to miss him!"

"Yes!" Rosemary cried, jumping straight into action. "I'll make you a mimosa!"

Abigail glanced at Faith and Elizabeth, both of whom she was perfectly aware were underage. The two girls quickly hid their red solo cups behind their backs and arranged their faces into looks of such pure innocence that no one looking could possibly believe they weren't up to something.

Abigail rolled her eyes. "No thank you, dear," she said to Rosemary. "I did bring something myself though."

She set the tote bag she was carrying down on the bed of the truck with a surprisingly deep thump and withdrew the largest thermos that Elizabeth had ever seen and a sleeve of styrofoam cups. She proceeded to pour herself a cup of aromatic dark coffee to everyone's delight.

"Sheer genius," Faith said, pouring a cup for herself.

"Come join us," Rosemary said, patting the tailgate beside her. "We're having girl talk."

"Girl talk?" Abigail said, settling herself on the back of the truck with them. "Are we going to talk about boys then?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "We hadn't been, but we could always start. Why don't you tell us about Frank?"

Abigail snorted. "I think you telling us about Jack would be far more interesting."

"Hardly," Rosemary said. "Jack spends half his time studying and the other half mooning after Elizabeth. He's the least interesting person we could talk about. What does Frank do, exactly? Jesse didn't really say anything about him."

Abigail sighed and took a deep sip of coffee to bolster herself. "He's chaplain at the city jail and an adjunct professor here teaching a course in Comparative Religion- Calvinist sects and their influence on North American societies."

"That sounds…" Rosemary hesitated, looking for a word, "fascinating?"

"Is dating a chaplain like dating a priest?" Elizabeth asked. "Because there was this priest one summer in France with my mom and sisters…"

Faith poked Elizabeth in the ribs. "Surely he's not Catholic!" she said.

"No," Abigail said. "Fairly non-denominational. You have to have a general grounding in a jail."

"Is dating a chaplain better or worse than dating a normal preacher?" Rosemary asked.

Abigail sighed, looking resigned. "Not that I would know in either case-" she began.

"But you'd like to!" Faith interrupted.

"But I would suspect that it would depend a little bit on what you want out of a relationship," Abigail continued, ignoring Faith. "Ministers have fairly structured schedules, and deviations are out of the ordinary. Chaplains, particularly one in a jail, will be more on-call."

"Like the difference between dating a PCP and an OBGYN," Faith said, knowledgeably.

"And which one is Carson meant to be?" Elizabeth asked, bumping her shoulder. Jack's troubles had not kept Elizabeth from noticing her oldest friend and the future doctor, heads together on the drive over.

"A surgeon,' Faith said, mournfully. "Surgeons are the worst. They think they're God. I mean, you have to to be able to cut into someone for the sake of healing but still… makes it hard to talk one into taking you out to dinner."

"Pity," Elizabeth said with a laugh.

Faith had told her when they were seven that she was going to marry a doctor someday. In the last dozen years, the ambition had never really gone away, though these days it was as much because only a doctor could appreciate her nurse's schedule as a desire to be rich.

"Jack always said that he wouldn't marry. If cops were meant to marry, they'd be issued a wife with their gun and badge," Rosemary said. "Just a warning to you, Elizabeth, in case you two ever get that far."

"Noted," Elizabeth said, and wondered if that was what Jack had been trying to tell her before.

"Where are the boys, exactly?" Abigail asked, looking around like she had just noticed their absence.

Elizabeth shrugged but Rosemary and Faith both gestured vaguely behind them.

"Ultimate Frisbee," Rosemary said.

"Of course," Abigail said with a nod. She glanced at her watch. "It's nearly 11:30, I'll bet they'll be back soon and wishing for lunch."

"There are sandwich makings in one of the coolers," Rosemary said.

"And the first one who shows up suggesting that one of us girls should 'make him a sammich' will be castrated without anesthetic," Faith added cheerfully.

"There's a threat to strike fear into the heart of a brave man," came a deep, pleasant voice.

"Frank!" Abigail cried, jumping to her feet and blushing furiously.

The girls stayed seated and exchanged an amused look behind Abigail's back as a tall man with salt-and-pepper hair kept longer than was fashionable, walked up to them with an unhurried amble.

"It's nice to see you, Abigail," he said, stopping in front of her and smiling down at her. "Did you come looking for me?"

"No!" she cried, her voice jumping an octave. "No I-" she looked around quickly and gestured to the girls. "These are my tenants this year, Elizabeth Thatcher and Faith Carter, and their friend, Rosemary…"

"Leveaux," Rosemary added smartly.

"Rosemary Leveaux," Abigail repeated. "We were just… chatting."

"On my truck?" Frank asked, looking amused.

"We're friends of Jesse's," Rosemary explained. "Abigail found us here."

"Well if that isn't providence, I don't know what is," Frank said, smiling down at Abigail again.

"We were actually just saying we should go check whether the group was on their way back for lunch!" Elizabeth said, standing quickly and tugging Faith's arm to do the same. "Now that you're here, you and Abigail can stay with the truck to be sure no one happens to walk away with any of our things."

The girls beat a hasty retreat, looking over their shoulders regularly and giggling.

"Who'd have thought a man of that age could blush like that?" Rosemary said.

"I think it's charming," Elizabeth said.

"Of course you do," Faith said. "Abigail seems happy enough, but I can't imagine dating a preacher… it'd feel like sacrilege any time you went to bed together, wouldn't it?"

"Maybe that's part of the appeal?" Rosemary suggested.

"Once you're married, it's a sacrament," Elizabeth said. "Maybe religious ecstasy adds to the other?"

The three girls nearly collapsed with giggles.

"I'll never be able to look at the pair of them again," Faith gasped, wiping her eyes, once they could breathe again.

"I'm pretty sure we're going to Hell for this," Rosemary said.

"At least we'll be together," Elizabeth said. "Who would even want to go to heaven if their best friends aren't there?"

"Nobody," Rosemary said certainly while Faith nodded.

"Good," Elizabet said. "Come on, might as well find those silly boys of ours."

Their boys were with a group on the grass, throwing a frisbee as though it were their lives' work. All of them were fit, and nearly all had shed their shirts at some point in the proceedings. They were being watched by a mixed group, lounging at the edge of the grass, which included Dottie and Clara. Rosemary dropped into the grass beside the others while Elizabeth and Faith remained standing to the side.

"Your Jack seems to take any opportunity to go shirtless," Faith said idly as they watched the game for a minute.

"He's a lifeguard, he's used to it," Elizabeth said.

"You like it," Faith accused, amused, looking up at her friend.

Jack noticed them then and waved, bent to pick something up from the ground, and started toward them at a jog, sweat glistening on his chest.

"Wouldn't you?" Elizabeth asked, smile curling mischievously.

Elizabeth allowed Jack to hug her for about half a second before she shoved him away.

"You smell like a still," she said, annoyed. "A sweaty still." She glanced down and saw what he was carrying- his shirt and a bottle of beer, which he took a drink of even as she was talking to him. "How many of those have you had?"

Jack shrugged. "It's cold and wet and I've been running around getting hot," he said.

"Oh my dear, you're going to be so miserable if you've been hydrating with beer," Elizabeth said.

Carson joined them then, practically draping himself across Jack's shoulders with a grin.

"Have you been drinking too?" Faith asked.

Carson said nothing, just held up his index finger and thumb about half an inch apart and squinted at the girls out of one eye.

"Were you boys planning on coming back for lunch, or were you planning on getting all of your nutrients out of a brown bottle?" Elizabeth asked, annoyed with herself for sounding such a nag.

The guys didn't seem to notice, however, and both brightened considerably at the sound of the word 'lunch.'

"Lunch sounds fantastic," Carson said, pulling on his shirt. He took the bottle from Jack's hand and finished it off as Jack pulled on his own shirt.

Jack threw an arm around Elizabeth's shoulders and steered her toward the rest of the group, which was moving in the direction of the truck. Elizabeth wrinkled her nose, but allowed him to.


	9. BP250: Intensive Brewing Science for Practical Brewing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **I'm sorry for missing last week. My job has been terrible, which means I've been stressed and unable to write, and last week would have been the end of my buffer. I don't like posting the last chapter I have written, just because I do believe so strongly in having some kind of buffer.**
> 
> **I did manage to write a bit this week, so I have another chapter, and if I'm very lucky, I'll get a bit of another jolt of energy for it here over the long weekend and we'll be back to the proper weekly updates again.**
> 
> **I hope everyone is having a lovely Friday, what's left of it!**

"You're telling me you don't even know the rules of football?" Rosemary cried over the roar of the crowd several hours later.

The rest of the afternoon had passed with laughter, food, and more beer and wine. The clever among them had interspersed with water and soda, but by the time the stadium had opened up to allow them all in to watch the game, everyone was talking louder and being more affectionate than they would in normal days.

Elizabeth felt a warm glow of pleasure about everything, and didn't even bother to be embarrassed by Rosemary's surprised question.

"I went to an all-girls school," she said. "I only ever played field hockey and softball. We fielded a Powderpuff team one year, but I wasn't on it, and there wasn't enough interest to do it again."

"Jack!" Rosemary yelled to Jack, who was sitting on Elizabeth's other side and was turned away from them to talk to Doug seated behind them. "Help me explain football to your alien girlfriend."

Jack turned and blinked owlishly at the pair of them. "What's that?"

"Elizabeth doesn't know the rules of the game!" Rosemary shouted.

"All-girls school!" Elizabeth yelled over the sounds of hundreds of jangling keys. "What are they doing?"

"Trying to distract the other team's quarterback," Jack said, pointing at the field where the players were in a scrum of some sort in the center. "It doesn't work, it's just tradition."

Jack and Rosemary stumbled over one-another to explain to Elizabeth what was happening until the entire crowd around them, save for Elizabeth, rose to its feet and started singing the school fight song.

Elizabeth blinked up in shock then quickly stood and finished out the song with the rest.

"What was that?" she asked Rosemary.

"We got a touchdown!" Rosemary shouted.

Jack pulled Elizabeth into his lap as the crowd seated themselves and Rosemary rolled her eyes and turned to talk to Dottie on her other side.

Elizabeth perched on Jack's knees awkwardly, not sure what to make of this development, until he put an arm around her waist and pulled her against him, practically forcing her to relax her back against his chest.

He continued talking- to her, to Doug behind him, to Clara and Jesse beside them- but Elizabeth mostly stopped listening. She found she liked the rumble of his voice in his chest against her back, and the way his hands rested on her thighs the way they did on his own. It felt intimate and illicit and turned her on terribly. When he leaned forward, hand on her stomach to hold her in place, and murmured some bit of football esoterica in her ear, Elizabeth wanted to turn and straddle him right there in the stadium in front of the entire school.

She slid out of Jack's lap and back into her seat quickly.

"You alright Elizabeth?" Rosemary asked. "You look a little flushed."

Elizabeth smiled and shook her head. Jack's nearness always affected her profoundly, but the alcohol in her blood seemed to be exacerbating the issue to an extent that wasn't seemly in public.

Jack barely seemed to have noticed she had moved, and Elizabeth sighed. He'd been drinking heavily with the guys all day, and she had only managed to talk him into a single bottle of water. He'd wake up miserable, but Elizabeth kept telling herself she wasn't his mom.

The game ended with what Rosemary assured Elizabeth was a nail-bitingly dramatic win for their team. Everyone was shrieking and jumping around. Elizabeth found herself hugged by Rosemary, Jack, Jesse, Doug, Jack again, Rosemary again, and then Doug kissed her twice on the cheeks. It was the most exciting thing Elizabeth thought she had ever experienced, even if she had no idea what, exactly had happened.

"Keep your hands off my girl, Bug!" Jack cried, pulling her away from Doug after he went in for a third hug.

Doug laughed and turned to hug Faith, who was sitting too many seats away from Elizabeth to have hugged her, but whose screams Elizabeth had heard throughout the entire game.

Jack pulled Elizabeth against him and rested his cheek against her temple, sighing deeply.

"C'mere," he said, and sat down in his seat again, pulling her down into his lap, close this time, and angled across so he could rest his head on her shoulder. "Gonna take forever to get out of here," he muttered. "Just want to hold you." He wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned against her and with a great, heavy sigh, went limp in a moment, apparently asleep.

Elizabeth ran her fingers through his hair- stiff with drying sweat and the remains of his hair gel, but soft and smooth beneath- and smiled. Jack's face was sweet and innocent in sleep. He looked like a child, even with the stubble popping out on his cheek where she stroked it.

"He okay?" Rosemary asked, leaning in close.

"I think he's had a lot to drink, and a lot of excitement," Elizabeth said. "He's going to be miserable tomorrow."

Rosemary frowned. "He should be more careful."

"Probably," Elizabeth said, rubbing her thumb across Jack's temple, "but I think everyone does something stupid with alcohol now and again. Especially when you're 20."

"It's not that," Rosemary said, shaking her head. "Jack's an adult, he can be as stupid as he wants. It's just… well…" she sighed. "There's a guy on Jack's floor, Chris. He  _really_ doesn't like Jack."

"What?" Elizabeth asked blankly. "Why not? Jack is nice to everyone."

Rosemary shrugged. "He's friendly, and good-looking, and popular, and Chris mostly isn't. I think it's just a matter of jealousy."

Elizabeth frowned. "I suppose I can see that but-"

"Normally I wouldn't worry about it," Rosemary said, "but this guy has gotten a reputation for reporting his neighbors for minor infractions. He said he smelled coffee in one room and reported the coffee maker to the RA, or one guy had his music on without headphones during quiet hours- not loud, mind, just on- and he got reported as well."

"This guy sounds like an ass," Elizabeth said.

"Absolutely," Rosemary agreed. "So here's the thing- RA's have to report all of those to the student conduct committee, you know? Mostly we don't go looking for them, but if someone comes and says something…"

"And you think this Chris character would tattle on Jack for drinking underage?" Elizabeth asked.

Rosemary shrugged. "He would if he caught him, I'd bet money. And for most of us it wouldn't matter- it's homecoming weekend and the school isn't really in the business of making students completely miserable, but Jack can't have any kind of black mark on his record or he risks jeopardizing his scholarships."

Elizabeth's hand went flat, cradling the back of Jack's skull protectively.

"I'm going to have to sneak him into his room and hope like hell that Chris isn't around," Rosemary said, looking worried.

Elizabeth shook her head. "No way am I letting you guys risk that. He can come back to my place until he's sobered up."

"Elizabeth, that's going to take all night," Rosemary said. "And like you said before, he's going to be a mess in the morning."

"Doesn't matter," Elizabeth said, twisting around to find Faith in the crowd and waving to her. "Can't let him risk his scholarship, can we?"

Faith managed to worm her way over through the crowd which was nearly as thick now as it had been at the end of the game.

"What's up?" she asked, bending down to avoid having to shout.

"Jack's staying at our place tonight," Elizabeth said adding, when Faith's eyebrows shot up and her mouth started forming a rather lascivious grin, "not like that, you perv. He can't stay at the dorm tonight- long story. Do you mind?"

"Is he going to be staying in my bed?" Faith asked.

"No," Elizabeth said.

"Then I can't see why I'd mind. You guys gonna take him straight over?"

"Yeah. You have plans?"

Faith gestured vaguely at the group they were with. "There's an after-party at Jesse's place, thought I'd go."

"You'll call if you need a ride home?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah, I'll call Uber," Faith said, rolling her eyes. "You're gonna be busy with drunky there."

"How many times do I have to tell you-"

"It doesn't have to be sexy!" Faith cried, though she was grinning. "You gotta be sure he doesn't get sick and aspirate. Very difficult work, nursing." She laughed merrily and moved away.

"'M going home with you?" Jack asked, apparently having finally been woken up by all this action around him.

Elizabeth smiled gently into his bleary blue eyes. "Yeah," she said, running her fingers through his hair again so that he closed his eyes like a contented cat. "You need someone keeping an eye on you."

"Good," he said, resting his chin on her shoulder and smiling vaguely up at her. "You're pretty."

"You're very drunk, Jack," Elizabeth said, though she was smiling.

Jack shook his head slightly, then closed one eye and frowned, apparently giving this due consideration.

"Maybe," he conceded after a long moment, "but you're pretty when I'm not, too."

"Oh do go back to sleep, Jack," Elizabeth said, blushing furiously.

~?~?~?~?~

Jack lay completely still. For the moment he felt well enough, but he could tell by the vague throb in his head and the slightly liquid sensation in his stomach that if he moved, he would disrupt some delicate balance and fall right over into full-blown hangover.

As he postponed the inevitable, Jack tried to remember the previous day. He definitely remembered getting up, taking a shower, getting dressed, meeting Rosemary in their dorm's lobby, climbing into the bed of Jesse's truck with some of Rosemary's friends and Doug, and driving across campus whooping and laughing to Elizabeth's place.

He could remember Elizabeth looking cozy and sleep-rumpled in her kitchen, gilded by morning sunlight and surrounded by the smell of coffee.

He definitely remembered Doug's flirting and reminiscences and thoughtless salting of Jack's hidden wounds. Even more than that, he remembered Elizabeth's selflessly-offered compassion, and how she'd listened to Jack's harrowing tale without one iota of recrimination.

He remembered how he'd almost said he loved her then. He'd tried to hint at it, warning her about his mother's feelings about loving a cop. He hadn't quite been able to get the words out though.

After that, things got fuzzier. He'd gone to play Frisbee with a group of guys, and when they'd been sweating and dry-mouthed, and only beer available, Jack had soothed his parched throat with that.

He thought there'd been food and more conversation after that. Jack remembered bottles of champagne, and bottles of Coke half-emptied and refilled with rum so they could be carried into the stadium.

Jack vaguely remembered the game- though he had no idea how it had ended- and a lingering impression of Elizabeth's lavender and rosemary smell.

After that, there was basically nothing. He knew that Jesse had been planning to host an after-game party, but Jack hadn't the foggiest idea if he'd made it to the party or gone back to the dorms. Considering he was pretty sure he was laying on a bed rather than a sofa or the floor, he must have gone back to his place, and prayed that Chris hadn't seen him arrive drunk.

There was a slight movement in the bed next to him and Jack became aware, for the first time, that he was not alone in his bed.

Oh shit… what the hell had he done when he was drunk?

Jack tried to turn his head and open his eyes to assess the damage, but his head gave an almighty throb and he was forced to squeeze his eyes shut again and couldn't seem to stop a groan.

The body in the bed next to him moved quite a lot then, jostling him and making his stomach and head throb.

"Jack?"

With one word, the pain in his stomach was reduced by half and Jack could nearly breathe again.

He slitted one eye open to see Elizabeth's face above his, dark hair framing her face in mad waves, blue eyes bleary but concerned.

Jack closed his eye against the visual world and took several long, deep breaths that smelled strongly of sleep and Elizabeth.

Just because it was her, and not someone else in his bed did not mean that he wouldn't need to go on bended knee and beg her forgiveness. The horrible possibilities of what he might have done or said to her in his blackout state seemed endless. Jack had never known himself to be a violent, belligerent, or even a particularly sexual drunk, but he'd only been drunk a few other times before, and never with someone he felt for as much as Elizabeth. If he had talked her into…

"How are you feeling?" Elizabeth asked, breaking into Jack's swirling thoughts. "Are you alright?"

Jack slitted his eye open again, and this time noticed that Elizabeth was dressed in a sweatshirt and leggings, which didn't look more mussed than sleeping would account for. He closed his eye again and took stock of himself, realizing that he was still in his jeans and sweatshirt- the only thing Elizabeth had apparently removed from him were his shoes.

He also noticed that he desperately needed to pee.

Experimentally, Jack opened both eyes just to see if he could, and found that it didn't quite make him want to die. With this much visual input, he was able to see that he wasn't in his dorm room- the double bed should have given that away, but his brain was running slow.

"Where-" he began, and grimaced at the horrible hoarse croak that came from his throat and the rather vile taste on his tongue.

Elizabeth glanced around as though unsure herself, then looked back at him and shrugged.

"You're at my house," she said. "Rosemary said that if someone decided to report you for underage drinking, your scholarships could be at risk, and I couldn't allow that. So I brought you here last night."

"Elizabeth, did I-" It wasn't seemly to ask, Jack knew, and it wasn't terribly polite, but he absolutely had to know. "Did we- did I do anything to you? Say anything to you? Did I hurt you?"

"What? No!" Elizabeth cried in shock and horror. "I barely got you onto the bed before you were snoring. When I came to bed later you turned over and cuddled me a bit, and you said… silly things. Nothing you meant, of course." She smiled down at him. "You were a perfect gentleman, Jack. Well… except for taking up a bit more than your half of my bed," she said, poking him in the ribs.

Jack wondered at that- why was he in her bed at all? Shouldn't he be on her sofa? Even if the thought of waking hungover after sleeping curled up on that short couch made every muscle in his body ache, surely it would be the more appropriate place to stash a drunken charity case than Elizabeth's own bed. And then for her to sleep beside him-

He wondered if the world would make more sense after a cup of coffee and several aspirin.

As though she had picked up on this thought, Elizabeth suddenly swung her legs off her side of the bed and scrambled out.

"I'm going to make some coffee, and try my hand at toast," she said. "Come down if you can, I'll bring it up if you can't."

When she was gone, Jack shut his eyes for a moment, trying to force his head to stop pounding. Her sheets were smoother and smelled better than his did, and he was tempted to roll over and try to go back to sleep, but the pressure in his bladder and the worries spinning through his mind put paid to that idea. Instead he slowly and painfully pushed himself up and swung his feet onto the floor, then sat for a few minutes with his head in his hands while the room stopped spinning.

Fifteen minutes later, having peed, used some mouthwash to rinse his mouth, and splashed his face with first cold then hot water, he didn't feel much better, but he thought he could probably face Elizabeth again.

He descended the stairs slowly, and nearly faltered when he reached the bottom as sunshine streamed in through the window in the front door and the big bay window in the living room. Light hurt his head, but he couldn't really turn back now, so Jack squeezed his eyes shut and reached out for the wall, beginning to shuffle toward the kitchen.

He wasn't sure exactly where he was when he heard Faith's voice and stopped.

"So did you sleep with him?"

Jack thought he should probably announce himself, but this was an intriguing question to him as well, and he thought Elizabeth more likely to be candid with Faith than she was with him, in an attempt to spare his blushes. He peeked through his slitted eyes and noted that he was far enough from the kitchen that the girls shouldn't be able to see him.

"I did not," Elizabeth said repressively. "He was drunk."

"I don't mean sex," Faith said, exasperated. "Did you sleep in the bed with him? You were asleep at your desk over your books when Carsen and I got back around one."

"I wasn't asleep, I was studying."

"Yeah, studying. With your eyes closed. Then you came downstairs to sleep on the couch-"

"By the way, I expect you to launder the cushions if you and Carsen… did anything on it," Elizabeth interrupted.

"What kind of girl do you think I am? I only let him kiss me goodnight when he went home," Faith said virtuously. "Anyway, the door was closed when I finally went up. Did you end up sleeping in your desk chair or did you give in and share a bed with a  _man_?"

"I slept in the bed."

"Oh come on, Elizabeth, dish! Tell me what it was like! I'm not getting anything, so I have to live vicariously through you."

"I'm not getting any either," Elizabeth said, but her resolve was clearly wavering.

"Close enough. Besides, it was your first time in bed with a guy, you've got to tell me everything."

Elizabeth was quiet for a moment. "He snores."

"Drunk people usually do," Faith said, wisely. "Anything else? Did he try anything?"

Jack leaned closer to hear.

"When I got into the bed he turned over and pulled me into him to spoon," Elizabeth said. "It was kind of nice, but he was still in his jeans, so not super comfy."

"What aren't you telling me?" Faith asked suspiciously.

"He… um…" Elizabeth hesitated. "He said he loved me."

"What?" Faith near-shrieked.

"Shhh! He'll hear you!"

"He loves you?" Faith said, lowering her voice to a stage-whisper that was no less intense.

"He was drunk, he had no idea what he was saying," Elizabeth hissed.

"Elizabeth Thatcher," Faith scolded, "you have a better education than I do. Who was it said  _in vino veritas_?"

"Herodotus," Elizabeth answered. "Or Erasmus, I can't remember. And it wasn't  _vino_ , it was mostly  _cervisia_."

"Now you're just being stubborn," Faith said. "He said he loved you."

"If he doesn't remember, it doesn't count," Elizabeth said.

"Hmmm," Faith murmured, sounding unconvinced. "Was it just a mumbled 'I love you' like if he thought you were his mom or something?"

"Um… no. It was while he was holding me and he said 'I love you, Elizabeth.'"

"Not much getting out of that. Oh this is so exciting!" Faith cried. "I mean…" She suddenly hesitated. "Isn't it? Do you love  _him_? I never thought to ask."

Jack was holding his breath, standing still as a statue, sure that if he moved or breathed, or so much as opened his eyes, they would know he was there and stop talking immediately, and he had to know the answer to this question.

Elizabeth was quiet for a long, long moment, and he began to feel light-headed.

"Yes," she said, finally, so quietly that Jack wasn't sure he had actually heard her over the pounding of his heart in his ears. "Yes I do love him," she said again though, and he was sure this time.

Jack released his breath gustily, and might have been caught had Faith not said a very loud and definite "good" which covered him.

"Is it?" Elizabeth asked. "You're not really supposed to fall in love with the first person you kiss."

"Since when?" Faith asked, incredulous. "In my experience, everyone falls in love with the first person they kiss, at least a little bit. And Jack is way more worthy than my first kiss, Nick-the-movie-snob, was."

"True enough," Elizabeth said. "But what if he doesn't-"

"I don't believe for even a moment that Jack Thornton isn't in love with you," Faith said, cutting her off. "If he doesn't remember saying it, it doesn't stop it being true. He was at his most vulnerable and uninhibited. I think that speaks more to his veracity than the opposite."

"If you say so," Elizabeth said, sounding unconvinced.

"Betcha," Faith said, having apparently taken a bite of something. "Ten bucks says he tells you today, awake and sober. Well… sober-ish. Hungover, maybe."

"Definitely hungover," Elizabeth said. "You know, you never win a bet against me. I'm pretty sure you owe me around $100, three weeks of laundry, and your first-and-second-born children at this point."

"Double or nothing then," Faith said quickly. "If I'm right- and I am- I don't owe you anything anymore, if I'm wrong, I owe you double of everything."

"You planning on having four kids?" Elizabeth asked, a slight laugh in her voice.

"Only if you're the one raising them," Faith said, and Jack could hear the sound of liquid hitting crockery. "You'd be a better parent than I will."

"You'd be a wonderful mother!" Elizabeth said, sounding shocked, over the sound of the refrigerator door opening and jars rattling against each other.

"I'd be okay-" Faith's voice was muffled in the fridge "-but you'd be better. We need to get more half-and-half."

"I'll add it to the list," Elizabeth said.

"You should make that blue-eyed lad of yours take you to Abigail's for breakfast," Faith said, closing the refrigerator door with a clatter and a squish. "Her breakfast stew is a better hangover cure than anything that'll come out of this kitchen."

"I think Abigail might be mad at me," Elizabeth said. "Pastor Frank gave her a ride home last night, and agreed to take me and Jack since it was all the same place. Abigail offered to let Jack stay with her, and I said no, and she kind of gave me the side-eye."

"You're an adult, Elizabeth, and her tenant, not her daughter. If you want to have a boy stay over, you're allowed. Besides, I'd bet good money-"

"Surely you know better than to bet with me by now, weren't we just talking about that?" Elizabeth asked with a laugh.

"-That you're just being over-sensitive," Faith finished, completely ignoring Elizabeth's interruption. "If this is all the respect I'm going to get, I'm taking my coffee and leaving," she continued, sounding prim.

"Enjoy your studying," Elizabeth said, apparently unperturbed.

Jack didn't realize what was happening until he heard the soft tap of a slipper on the linoleum right by the kitchen door and suddenly scrambled to get where he wouldn't be caught eavesdropping. He'd only made it to the bottom of the stairs, however, when Faith stepped out of the kitchen and there was nowhere for him to go.

To his surprise, however, Faith said nothing, just sailed over to him with her coffee cup in hand, smiling serenely.

"Go in there and win my bet for me," she whispered when she reached him. "Good morning, Jack!" she called then, loud enough that Elizabeth would be able to hear from the kitchen, and Jack jumped as her cheerful trill hit his abused system. "I hope you slept well. Elizabeth is in the kitchen with the coffee, and I'm off upstairs to study for midterms for a bit, at least until I get bored. See you around."

Faith vanished up the stairs, laughing, and Elizabeth's tousled head appeared at the door of the kitchen.

"Jack! You made it down! How are you feeling?"

Jack wasn't entirely sure he could trust his eyes, given the way his head was throbbing and spinning, but he thought she might be blushing.

"I've felt better," he said, honestly. "But I guess I've also felt worse. I could use some coffee and aspirin though."

"Yes, of course," Elizabeth said quickly. "I've got coffee made, come on in."

Jack crossed the entry hall, passed the place where he had stood spying, and entered the sun-bright kitchen which smelled strongly of Elizabeth's preferred French roast.

There were two cups of coffee on the counter and Jack picked up the blue one, raising an eyebrow at Elizabeth for confirmation it wasn't hers. She nodded and Jack took a sip.

"Milk?" Elizabeth asked.

"Aspirin, please," Jack said.

She nodded and turned to open another cabinet and pulled down a rattling white bottle. "No aspirin in the kitchen," she said as she opened it, "but Faith says ibuprofen is better for hangovers anyway."

Jack shrugged and accepted the two dark-red pills that she shook into his hand, swallowing them down gratefully with his next sip of coffee.

Elizabeth tidily closed the cap on the pill bottle and put it away, closed the door, and stood awkwardly, sipping her coffee and fidgeting, not saying anything.

"Elizabeth," Jack said, when he'd finally gotten halfway through his coffee and she had started chewing on a thumbnail, "I know I asked it before, but are you sure I didn't say anything to you last night? You said that I said something I didn't mean."

"Jack, you shouldn't worry about it-" Elizabeth said, blushing and looking down into her cup.

"Only… all day yesterday there was something I did want to say to you, see? For days- weeks, really. I keep telling myself it's too soon, and if I say it, I'll scare you, but if I was drunk and half asleep… I just wondered if maybe all those reasons not to might not have seemed so important then."

He looked up at her and found her eyes wide and her face shocked. She looked away quickly, blushing even redder.

"What… what was it you wanted to say?" she asked. "You did say something, but it's not as if I know what you're thinking. I'm not a mind-reader."

Jack finished the coffee in his cup- it was really very good, better even than Abigail's- and stepped over to where Elizabeth was leaning her hip against the counter. He took the cup from her hand and set it on the counter behind her, feeling bold, and like a guy from a movie, and still a little surreal with his head still throbbing from alcohol.

He put a finger under her chin and brought her face up so her eyes met his, wide and blue, and as beautiful as anything in all the world he knew.

"I-" he began, but her eyes shifted up for just a moment, and she snorted with laughter.

"What?" he asked, confused and a bit offended.

"I'm so sorry, Jack," Elizabeth said, giggling, "but did you look at your hair in the mirror upstairs?"

He hadn't.

He lifted his hand to his hair and winced as he could feel the random whorls and spikes his uneasy sleep had pushed it into.

"You look like a cockatiel!" Elizabeth cried, laughing aloud now. "I've been trying to avoid looking at you all day!"

Ah, so it had not been virginal embarrassment or flirtation that had kept her eyes lowered or her color high, it had been his silly hair.

Jack started to laugh too, wrapping his arms around her waist and leaning into her as he did.

"That's why I love you," he said after a few minutes, when they had both calmed down, his hands still resting on her hips. "You never let me take myself too seriously. That's what I was going to say, by the way, before you decided to point out my hair-" he poked her in the side so she squirmed. "That I love you. Because I do."

"That's very good, Jack," she said, "because I love you too."

They stood grinning at each other like idiots for a long moment. Jack wanted to kiss her, but he didn't want to break the moment, and besides that, he liked the way she looked with her hair uncombed, without makeup, barefoot and in an oversized sweatshirt. It was something he would be happy to get used to seeing, but he never wanted to forget this first time.

Inevitably, their sweet interlude was interrupted by Jack's stomach making an uncouth noise, which set the pair of them giggling like children again.

"I said I'd make you toast," Elizabeth said, moving out of Jack's arms and bustling across the kitchen. "Honestly, you might be better off with just a peanut-butter sandwich, sometimes I start fires when I try to actually toast bread."

"Why don't I take you to the cafe for breakfast?" Jack asked, remembering what Faith had said. "Then afterwards, we can go get my backpack from my dorm and spend the day studying for midterms."

Elizabeth gave him a grin over her shoulder. "You do know the way to a woman's heart, Jack Thornton."

He didn't really. Not any woman. But hers? He was certainly interested in finding out.


	10. ETH316: Ethics and Social Responsibility

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm afraid that I must admit this next chapter is, once again, heavy on plot and light on relationships. I won't apologize because this is actually going somewhere, but I know a lot of you get grumpy with me when there's not enough kissing, so I figured I'd be upfront with the facts.
> 
> Next week should please you though (assuming it can come out next week...).
> 
> I believe that's all I have to say about this week. Hope everyone's week has been better than mine!

**ETH316: Ethics and Social Responsibility**

Rosemary stood around the corner at the end of the hallway from their Economics classroom. As she waited, she closed her eyes and tried to picture Elizabeth's flashcards in her mind's eye. They'd run through them five times, just the night before.

It annoyed her- she could memorize a script or piece of prose in three readings, quickly learning the character's speech style and meaning and motivations. The same process didn't work with facts however.

Elizabeth had no such problems. Faith had held up the cards and Elizabeth had immediately had every answer every time.

"I can't sing, dance, or act," she'd said, as though that had helped in the moment. "And you should ask Faith about the year I had to take both physics and biology in high school."

Faith had grinned. "It's always fun to have something that you can tutor your smartest friend in."

Elizabeth did have the soul of a teacher and had tirelessly walked Rosemary through the cards over and over and over. Rosemary thought she would probably pass her midterm, and if she did, she would kneel and kiss Elizabeth's pink running shoes.

Rosemary opened her eyes at the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway and smiled to see Lee, laden with books and papers, looking adorably distracted.

He was apparently so distracted that he didn't notice her until she stepped out in front of him, blocking his path to the classroom.

"Rosemary?" He said, blinking as though just waking. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you, of course," she said, stepping up to him and smiling up into his eyes.

Lee blushed and stepped back from her, putting an annoyingly appropriate distance between them.

Rosemary sighed. Lee had proven himself willing to gently nudge the rules, but not to truly push them. The closest he'd come was that visit they'd all made to Elizabeth's family in September. Even when he'd invited her to dinner at his apartment, he'd been careful only to talk about her paper and the class. He would only chat about real life if they were in public and he couldn't make a move- when they were in private, he was careful never to cross the boundaries.

It was frustrating to no end. Rosemary knew men, and she would have staked all the money in Elizabeth's trust fund that Lee was interested in her right back, but he needed the GA position, and, if she listened to the logical voice in her head that sounded more like Elizabeth every day, Rosemary had to admit that she couldn't afford to have her grade in Economics questioned because she'd been dating the GA. It was terrible though, because she  _really_ liked Lee.

"Rosemary?" Lee said suddenly, interrupting her thoughts. "Are you busy tonight?"

Rosemary was startled- it was as though he'd been reading her mind.

"Tonight? Not really, why?" She asked, wondering if he was finally making his move.

Lee shook his head. "I'm not supposed to talk about one student's grades with another student but… well… Gowan gave me the papers to submit grades on, and they're being handed back tonight and… I think Elizabeth is going to need a friend tonight."

~?~?~?~?~

Elizabeth rolled her eyes as she walked across the courtyard with her phone pressed to her ear.

"Have you been watching Masterpiece Theatre again, Mom?" She asked. "Nobody's called another person a 'suitor' in about a hundred years, and 'paying court' in five hundred. Jack's my boyfriend."

She stopped and leaned against a wall outside of her class building and listened for a few minutes.

"Prospects, Mother? What century is this? He's in college and going to get a job, and I'm in college and going to get a job. We're not entrants into the Westminster dog show, I don't need to know his  _pedigree_. Jack is a good man and I love him."

Another moment of listening, which Elizabeth interrupted with an exasperated snort.

"I have known him less than two months! We're not talking about marriage. Right now, we're mostly talking about whether our final schedules will let us see the new Star Wars movie before school lets out."

Elizabeth frowned at what her mother said on the other end of the line.

"Mom, we're in the middle of midterms, none of us have thought as far ahead as Halloween, much less Thanksgiving. Besides, I'm sure Jack misses his mom and brother and would much rather go home than come spend it with us."

"No, I-" she said, then stopped.

"I didn't say-" she tried again, then stopped, looking annoyed.

Finally, after another long minute of listening, where Elizabeth's face grew tighter and tighter, she spoke too loudly into her phone, as though cutting off a tirade.

"Mom, I'm going to be late for my test, I have to let you go. We can talk about this later, okay? I'll call again, promise. Okay? Bye. No, bye, Mom. I have to go! Goodbye!"

She hit the button on her phone with more force than necessary and sighed as she leaned back against the red brick wall of the class building.

"Sounds dramatic," Jack said, stepping up and joining Elizabeth against the wall. He'd been walking with her from the library to class when her mother had called. Elizabeth's half of the conversation had been fascinating, though he was somewhat glad he hadn't heard her mom's. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Sort out two-hundred years of American aristocratic snobbery?" Elizabeth asked without bothering to open her eyes.

"Hmm, the American aristocracy has its roots in the British aristocracy, and I don't think even I have the tenacity for digging that out," Jack said, making Elizabeth chuckle.

"Even if you could, it probably couldn't convince my mother that I'm not in college to get married and become some objet d'art who throws very nice, high-society parties and sits on the board of at least three charities that pay their CEOs seven times more than they give out in actual charitable works."

"At least she's feeling well enough to question your life choices," Jack said with a shrug.

Elizabeth smiled. "Yes, there is that. My life was quieter when she was sick, but I wouldn't trade."

"That's because you're a better person than most," Jack said, reaching out and stroking her arm. "But you're going to be a better person than most who has missed her Econ final if we don't get in to class right now."

Elizabeth nodded and pushed off the wall to head in to class, Jack falling into step beside her.

"You'll do great," he said, glancing over to see her staring at the ground, a small furrow between her brows. "You're smarter than anyone I know."

Elizabeth looked up, face clearing quickly, and smiled at him.

"Oh, I'm not worried about the test."

"No?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Elizabeth shook her head, but not in negation. "Okay, I'm worried about the test because that's what I do: I worry about my grades. But I was actually thinking about what my mom said. I can't believe she'd be so…"

Jack didn't force her to find a word. "She's 50 miles away, and you're an adult. She can't do a damned thing about anything you do," he said, reaching for her hand and squeezing comfortingly.

"Are you saying it doesn't bother you?" Elizabeth asked, skeptically.

"Nope," Jack said, "it bothers me plenty, but I can't do anything about her archaic views, can I? Besides that, she kind of has a point: stick with me and you'll never go hungry, but you'll never live in a castle either."

"I don't want a castle," Elizabeth said, leaning against his shoulder as they turned into their Econ classroom. "They tend to be drafty."

"The annoying part of that is that I'm pretty sure you're speaking from experience," Jack said, moving aside as they reached their row to allow Elizabeth to take the seat beside Rosemary who had beat them there.

Elizabeth just smiled knowingly as she pulled three test books from her bag and handed them around.

~?~?~?~?~

Elizabeth glanced up from her test paper at the stack of pages waiting face-down on the corner of her desk.

Part of her wanted to look, but she resisted, though the not-knowing roiled through her stomach like nausea.

If it was a good grade, that would be fine. She'd earned a lot of A's in her life, and she knew how to handle it.

If, however, it was a bad grade, she would never be able to finish her test. As much as she wanted to believe that Professor Gowan would never mark her down for disagreeing with him, Lee had seemed very sure, and Elizabeth knew Lee much better than she knew Gowan.

She tore her eyes away and returned to the question on her test- the last one, though it was six parts.

"Eric receives utility from days spent traveling on vacation domestically (D) and days spent traveling in a foreign country (F) as given by the utility U(D,F)=DF. The price of a day spent traveling domestically is $160 and in a foreign country $200. Eric's annual budget for traveling is $8000."

_Ugh_ , Elizabeth thought tiredly,  _math_.

She started to carefully write out the problem, forcing her mind into numerical theory. It was just like Gowan to throw a series of calculations at the end of a test that had been predominantly essay work. Elizabeth thought it was totally unfair- numbers took a whole different type of thought, and switching from one to another was  _hard_!

She was glad nobody was timing how long it took her to do the relatively simple arithmetic, but she finished eventually and, glancing up, was pretty sure she was still the first done.

Elizabeth sat straight in her chair to ease her tense back, and flipped her test book back to the first page and began to read her own answers. She could almost hear Rosemary rolling her eyes, but she'd done it on every test she'd ever taken, and she'd be damned if she stopped now.

Her handwriting started out neat, but deteriorated quickly as her mind had started working faster than her hand, which had also grown more tired. She thought it stayed legible to the end- she was pretty sure most teachers had seen worse- and nodded at the last questions again. She was done.

"I'll wait for you in the courtyard," Elizabeth whispered as she gathered her papers and bag and passed Jack's desk. His golden head nodded and she smiled as she walked up the center aisle to Gowan's desk where she set her test book.

Professor Gowan didn't look up from his writing, and Elizabeth couldn't decide if he didn't want to look at her specifically, or if it was his usual disinterest in the students he taught.

"See you next week, Professor," Elizabeth whispered, as she turned away. He didn't respond.

As she walked toward the door out of the classroom, Elizabeth took a long, deep breath and finally looked at the grade on the paper in her hands.

~?~?~?~?~

Lee was waiting at the door of the classroom and could see the moment Elizabeth's paper grade hit her. Her rose-petal cheeks went suddenly white, and her blue eyes went wide. Her step faltered, but she kept going. Her face remained pale but it was blank and calm by the time she reached the door.

"Elizabeth-" Lee whispered as she passed, but she ignored him and left the classroom.

~?~?~?~?~

The classroom door slammed and Jack glanced up from his papers in surprise. Elizabeth was thoughtful and would normally be careful with the door, but something had apparently distracted her.

Jack glanced over at Rosemary, who was looking back over her shoulder at the door that Elizabeth had left through, a crease on her brow. Jack turned to look back as well, finding Lee standing, face upset.

Jack turned back to his test, bumping his research paper as he did. He wondered if Gowan had really had the temerity to fail Elizabeth, and what he, Jack, would do if he had.

~?~?~?~?~

Elizabeth's blood rushed in her ears drowning out everything but her own thoughts, which were confusing in the extreme.

_She had never gotten a C before in her life._

_Honestly, was a C really so bad?_

_She'd worked her tail off on that paper!_

_Maybe it wasn't as good as she'd thought it was- as well-written, or well-argued._

_Lee had assured her it was one of the best papers he'd read._

_Did Lee really know?_

_What was she going to do?_

The tips of her fingers were cold and buzzing, as though all of her blood had retreated to her core and brain, protecting her. There was a sensible voice in her head which said that she was overreacting to a grade, but Elizabeth had always put far more academic pressure on herself than was reasonable.

"Elizabeth Thatcher," the voice in her head- Rosemary's voice- said, "you stop this self-pity, right now!"

"Elizabeth, stop!"

Elizabeth stopped and turned to find the real Rosemary and Jack both breathing hard and jogging to catch up with her.

"You said you'd wait," Jack accused, once they'd met her.

Rosemary waved this off, shooting straight to the heart of the issue. "What did you get on your paper, Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth took a deep breath to say aloud what she hadn't wanted to acknowledge as real. "A C."

She was vaguely aware of how well Rosemary and Jack knew her, and how much they loved her, because they both reacted in horror rather than asking her what the hell her problem was.

"That is completely unfair!" Rosemary cried, seizing the bit between her teeth as she always did. "It's a completely egregious miscarriage of justice. Your paper should have set the curve!"

"You don't know that, Rosie-" Elizabeth began, only to be cut off.

"Lee said that yours was the best paper he's ever read, and he read most of the class' papers. Lee's not stupid, Elizabeth. If he said it was good, then it was good!"

Rosemary grabbed Elizabeth's arm and began to pull her up the road toward the not-too-distant neon that marked Abigail's cafe.

"Come on, Elizabeth. I'm buying you a brownie sundae, and we're going to plan our next move."

As she continued on in the wake of Hurricane Rosie, Elizabeth glanced behind them to find Jack, smiling and shaking his head at the two girls, and following behind them without comment.

~?~?~?~?~

Elizabeth tapped on the unfamiliar office door. Rosemary had assured her it was the right one, and it had taken all of Elizabeth's powers of persuasion to keep her friend from joining her on this quest.

There was no answer, so Elizabeth knocked more forcefully. The receptionist for the Economics department had said he was in his office.

The door in front of Elizabeth opened, and she found herself eye-to-eye with Professor Gowan. Elizabeth hadn't realized he was so short- he couldn't be any taller than her own five-foot nine.

"Professor Gowan-" she said in surprise, only to be cut off.

"I don't offer office hours," he said simply, and moved to close the door.

Elizabeth caught it with her hand. "Professor, I wanted to discuss my research paper with you, actually."

"I don't discuss grades either," Gowan said, and tried to close the door again.

Elizabeth had it in hand now, however, and she was several years younger than Gowan.

"Professor, I think you need to reconsider mine," she said- that line had been a compromise between her and Rosemary. Rosie had thought she should demand he change her grade, and Elizabeth had wanted to ask him if he thought he might have made a mistake.

Gowan sighed and moved away from the door, apparently consigning her to the "inevitable annoyance" part of his day. He said nothing, but walked to his desk and sat down.

Elizabeth took this as an invitation and stepped inside the office and began to speak.

"Professor," she said, trying to remember everything Rosemary had drilled into her the previous night- if only she could act! "Professor, I worked very hard on my paper and I think that you should consider giving me a grade higher than a C."

"If I gave you a C, you deserved a C," Gowan said simply. "If you worked very hard for that C, perhaps you should be proud of yourself. Nothing wrong with a C."

"I don't think you understand, sir," Elizabeth said, beginning to get flustered. "I don't get C's. I have never gotten such a low grade in my life!"

"Perhaps you didn't understand that university coursework would be more difficult than the work you did in high school," Gowan said, giving Elizabeth a sickly smile. "Not everyone is cut out for higher education my dear."

Elizabeth saw red. Her spine straightened and her eyes flashed and she could practically feel sparks flying from the ends of her curly hair.

"Professor Gowan," she said, articulating carefully, "I have been preparing for my university career since I was seven years old. If anyone is cut out for this school, it is me. You, on the other hand, have completely dismissed my research paper because my conclusions disagree with yours."

"Oh, I know who you are now, the socialist, is that right?" Gowan's patronizing smile had not left. "Perhaps you worked hard on that paper- it was nearly 1000 words longer than requested- but your conclusions were invalid. Had you worked harder or used more reputable sources, you would not have come to such an erroneous conclusion. Your writing is good, next time just take more care with your scholarship."

"Professor Gowan, I-"

"Miss Thatcher," Gowan said, voice suddenly going dangerous, "your father may be a major donor to this school, but that does not give you the authority to question my teaching or my grades. If you do not stop wasting my time and leave this office this moment, I will update your paper's grade to an F. Do I make myself clear."

Elizabeth froze. Gowan had found the chink in her armor- she could not stand the thought of failure. The very thought nearly sent her into a panic.

"Yes professor," she whispered, then turned on her heel and fled his office before he could see her start to cry.


	11. DANC1100: Stress Reduction Through Movement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **I've had a lot of notes from you guys, and because of that, I've decided to do what I try to avoid and giving you my last buffer chapter. Read on to learn more.**
> 
> **First things first: as I said last week, this chapter is rather saucy. If that makes you uncomfortable, the most sexually explicit part is right at the end, or you can read a somewhat redacted version on my fanfiction-dot-net page, username KnaveOfSwords. It should be easy to find- my WCtH fic is the only thing over there.**
> 
> **Now, second and arguably more important: some of you seem rather perturbed by my absence of late, and on one hand I feel I should apologize because I did say I would try to publish weekly, but on the other hand, I don't usually feel obligated to apologize that I'm a person with a job, a family, and a life I'm also expected to lead.**
> 
> **My job is very busy right now, and I'm leaving it at the end of the summer to go back to school full time for the first time in ten years. The decision to return to school has led to a major overhaul of my life and my finances, and those things (as well as the occasional dinner with my aging parents, or day out with my young nephews, or evening with my close friends, or even just desire to watch TV rather than write) means that the words aren't flowing as quickly as they have before.**
> 
> **What I mean to say then is that I will publish chapters as I find the time and inspiration to write them, but the time and inspiration are at much more of a premium than they have been at other times in my life. Please be patient with me. I intend to finish this story (I have plans for what happens next) but now I am not sure when.**
> 
> **I believe that's all I had to say on the matter. This author's note has really gotten out of hand, so without further blather, here's your next, fun, saucy chapter of Digital Media.**

"I don't have anything to wear!" Rosemary wailed.

Elizabeth bit her tongue to keep from laughing or pointing out the absolute mountains of clothes scattered across Rosemary's dorm room, nor the seven outfits she'd already tried on. Elizabeth also refrained from mentioning the fact that Lee, the only person she could imagine Rosemary being quite so indecisive about impressing, was unlikely to be there.

When Faith had insisted that Elizabeth needed to get out and do something fun before she drove herself crazy about what to do about Gowan and his unfair grading practices, and had suggested a dance club with and 18+ night, Rosemary had mentioned the plan to Lee. He, however, hadn't said anything about coming, maintaining his careful professionalism.

Jack, Faith, and Elizabeth had a quiet bet about how the night would go as regarded their friends. Faith was sure that Lee was going to show up to surprise Rosemary. Jack thought Lee would come, but pretend that it was just an accident he happened to be in the same place at the same time they were. Elizabeth's money was on him not coming at all.

Thinking about not thinking about her Economics paper naturally meant that it was suddenly all Elizabeth could think about. Every time she pictured the "C" on the top of her paper, Elizabeth wanted to cry. Her midterm had come up Aces, so she had an overall B in the class, but if she couldn't fix it, it would put paid to her hopes of graduating a year early SumMa Cum Laude.

Rosemary continued to insist that Elizabeth should challenge the grade, but Elizabeth was frightened to try. She wanted real advice from someone who might know, but she didn't yet know any of her teachers well enough to ask, Abigail was wise and thoughtful, but not part of the University system, and Lee had been cagey about it ever since he'd given her the paper in the first place.

She had no idea what to do, and every option seemed worse than the one before it.

Elizabeth gave a long, heavy sigh, which made Rosemary turn and give her a narrow, suspicious look.

"You wouldn't happen to be thinking about exactly the topic we've planned this little excursion to keep you from thinking about, would you?" she asked, suspiciously.

"Not at all," Elizabeth said, giving Rosemary the full potency of the guilelessness of her wide, blue stare. "In fact," she continued, noticing a convenient change of topic on the floor, "I was just wondering why, exactly, you appear to have a regency gown in your collection."

Elizabeth reached down to pick up the dress, which was light blue with forest green detailing and looked like it had been plucked straight out of a better production of Sense and Sensibility.

Rosemary waved a dismissive hand at it.

"Borrowed it from the costume shop and never got around to returning it."

Rosemary turned back to her closet and the problem at hand and Elizabeth held the dress up to herself, liking the romance of the old-fashioned style.

"It really suits you," Rosemary said, catching her. "You'd make a proper Jane Eyre or-" Suddenly Rosemary's eyes went wide and she gasped. "I've just had the most brilliant idea!"

Elizabeth thought she should keep a running list of otherwise-innocuous phrases that, when said by Rosemary LeVeaux in a certain tone of voice, became terrifying.

Rosemary, unaware of Elizabeth's uncharitable thoughts, continued laying out her plan.

"You and Jack will dress as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy for Halloween!" she cried.

"Halloween?" Elizabeth said. "Rosie, I don't have-"

"The theatre department always throws a huge Halloween party every year," Rosemary continued as though Elizabeth hadn't spoken, "and of course costumes are required. You two will be perfect as Lizzie and Darcy, and Faith can be Fanny Price, and I will be Emma Woodhouse, of course."

"Of course," Elizabeth muttered.

"So what do you think?" Rosemary asked, finally acknowledging again that Elizabeth was in the room. "You'll be perfect as Lizzie Bennet!"

Elizabeth opened her mouth to object again, but her imagination suddenly presented her with a picture of Jack dressed in Colin Firth's tight breeches, vest, and frock coat from his own foray as Mr. Darcy. The image made Elizabeth's mouth water, and she closed it quickly to keep from drooling.

"Fine," Elizabeth said, "I'll do it if you can convince everyone else, and if you know where to find the costumes."

Rosemary grinned. "Don't worry Elizabeth, I have a plan!"

Add another one to the list, Elizabeth thought.

~?~?~?~?~

The light of the club was a low red-purple and the music was the sort common to dance clubs- all driving beat with minimal melody and lyrics that would make your eyes roll if you could hear them. It wasn't so busy that the girls couldn't move through the room, but the press of bodies and movement had raised the temperature to nearly 80 degrees, a stark shock given that it was hovering just above freezing outside.

Rosemary, Elizabeth, Faith, and Dottie found a table and shed their coats onto the chairs. It was like it had been a signal- the sudden appearance of short dresses and bare arms seemed to call every unaccompanied man in the room toward the four.

"Hi," one guy said, catching Elizabeth's attention with a gentle hand on her upper arm. "Do you wanna dance?"

Elizabeth smiled at him- he looked nice and she'd have liked to, but…

"I'm waiting for my boyfriend, but my friend Dottie would love to dance with you," she said, pulling Dot forward and into the boy's path.

He didn't look too disappointed with Elizabeth's replacement, and gestured a blushing Dottie toward the dancing with a shy grin.

Elizabeth barely had a moment to laugh for a moment with Faith and Rosemary about Dottie and her dance partner when Elizabeth had another tap on her shoulder.

"Would you like to dance?"

This guy was taller than the first and gave the impression of confident swagger with only a few words. Elizabeth considered for a moment, then decided.

"Sorry, I'm waiting for someone just now, but my friend Faith would love to dance with you," she said. Carson was expected with Jack and Doug, but Faith would enjoy teasing him by dancing with a handsome man when he showed up.

Elizabeth barely had time to look around to check whether Jack and the guys had arrived yet, when she had yet another tap on her shoulder.

This man was reed-slender and his dark skin glowed nearly-blue in the low light, leaving his grin bright as a flash.

"Hi, my name is Martin," he said.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to tell him that she was waiting for her boyfriend when he cut her off.

"I was wondering if you could introduce me to your friend?" he asked, nodding at Rosemary.

Elizabeth laughed- he seemed to have been watching them- and gestured Rosemary over.

"Rosemary, I'd like to introduce you to Martin," she said. "Martin, Rosemary really knows how to dance, so I'll warn you in advance."

"No problem," he said, holding out a hand toward Rosemary and cocking an eyebrow. "I'm the best dancer here."

Elizabeth was surprised at the statement until she saw Rosemary meet Martin's eyes with an amused, challenging look.

"You want to bet, Martin?" she said, just loud enough to be heard over the music. "Because I'd say I'm the best dancer here."

Martin grinned. "Only one way to find out, wouldn't you say?"

Rosemary nodded and put her hand into his, allowing him to pull her out onto the dance floor with an impressive little spin at the end.

Elizabeth laughed in pleasure. Even if Lee didn't show up, it looked like Rosemary was going to have fun.

Elizabeth looked around and was oddly surprised to find herself alone. The music thrummed through her bones and she wanted to dance, but she decided she could wait until the guys arrived. She was just about to sit down when the fourth guy of the night walked up to her table.

"You wanna dance?" he called over the din.

He was perhaps an inch shorter than Elizabeth- nearly three in her heels- with swarthy skin and dark hair and eyes, impossible to tell their real color in the low light.

"I'm waiting for my boyfriend," Elizabeth answered with an apologetic shrug.

The guy didn't seem to find this off-putting. "I'll return you in one piece for him, promise! It's just they've started playing salsa and I want to dance and no one else looks free just now."

"Salsa?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah, it's my favorite. Do you know how?"

Elizabeth shook her head.

"I can teach you if you want. I'm Carlo, by the way." He held out a hand and cocked his head toward the dance floor.

Elizabeth only gave it half a second of thought before she took his hand and let him lead her into the dancing. She would be damned if she let the fact that she was the only one of her friends there who had a boyfriend make her the only one who didn't get to dance. Besides that, she'd always wanted to learn to salsa.

On the dance floor, Carlo pulled her around to face him and took both her hands so that they were far enough apart that she could see both of their feet.

"You hear the music? It's five beats- or really, four and half. The fifth beat is fast. Follow my feet, okay?"

He took a step back with his left foot, and Elizabeth mirrored him with her right foot.

"No, when I step back, you step forward," he called over the music.

"Right, of course," Elizabeth said, shaking her head and feeling foolish- she did know how to dance.

Carlo stepped back with his left foot again, and this time Elizabeth followed correctly, but then he shifted his weight to his right foot, which threw Elizabeth, who had placed her weight on her own right foot, off her balance.

"Sway your hips," he said, dropping one of her hands and resting his on the swell of her hip to guide her. "It keeps your weight on the right foot."

After two more false starts, Elizabeth had finally gotten the rhythm and step pattern down. She wasn't quite comfortable enough to look her dance partner in the eyes yet, but he seemed to be pleased.

"You keep doing that," he said. "You've got it now."

He spun away then, to Elizabeth's surprise, and started dancing around her, keeping one hand on her at all time, occasionally turning her with him, making her look good.

"Move your shoulders," he said, leaning close. "You've got the rhythm now, just move with it. Your feet know it now."

Elizabeth had had several dance teachers say the same thing to her, but somehow it was easier when Carlo said it in this loud, crowded room where it was clear nobody was watching her, and the music seemed to course through her veins.

It barely took three more measures before Elizabeth was grinning, and following Carlo's lead. He grinned bright at her, took her hand, and spun her, pulling her in where she was, to her own surprise, still perfectly in step with him.

"Senorita bonita!" he cried, and Elizabeth threw back her head and laughed.

The music continued for another ten minutes before there was a break meant to let people change partners or buy a drink.

"You're a better dancer than you think you are," Carlo said. "If you ever want to go out dancing, you should give me a call."

"Just imagine what my boyfriend would say," Elizabeth said with a laugh.

Carlo shrugged. "Just tell him I'm your gay dance partner."

"I don't lie to Jack, as a rule."

Carlo blinked, looking surprised. "Who said it was a lie? I thought it was obvious!"

"Really?" Elizabeth shook her head. "Not to me it's not!"

Carlo laughed. "Let me guess: you grew up a bit sheltered, maybe religious? Never developed a gay-dar?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "I went to an all-girls Catholic school. I don't think I've ever known anyone gay before."

"Bet you have. Half those girls at those schools are kissing each other, not that you can ever tell with girls- they get to kiss and hold hands and hug and nobody thinks anything of it. Speaking of which, one of your friends wants you." He pointed over Elizabeth's shoulder, and when she turned, sure enough, Dottie was hovering nearby, looking conflicted.

As soon as she noticed Elizabeth looking her way, Dottie joined them, grabbing Elizabeth's hand.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to bother you but… well…"

"Are you okay?" Elizabeth asked.

"The guy I was dancing with grabbed me," Dottie said quickly, as though getting it all out in a breath might make it easier.

"Grabbed you?"

Dot didn't say anything, she just looked down and grabbed both of her breasts in her hands, then looked up at Elizabeth with her eyes wide.

"I turned around and got away as fast as I could and went looking for someone I know. There wasn't anyone at the table, and you were the first person I saw."

"Are you okay?" Elizabeth asked again, more horrified this time. "Did he hurt you?"

"No!" Dottie assured her. "I just… had to get away, you know?"

Elizabeth squeezed her hand. "I'm glad you did. Do you want to dance with Carlo? He doesn't even like breasts, so you're probably safe."

"Safe as a baby bird in the nest," Carlo said, crossing his heart, then holding up the Boy Scout salute. "Or if you're not feeling men just now, you and…" He looked at Elizabeth with a frown, and she realized that she knew his name, but had never told him hers.

"Elizabeth," she supplied with a sheepish smile.

Carlo grinned back, and continued, "you and Elizabeth could dance together."

"No offense," Dottie said, "but that does sound like fun. Are you okay with that, Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth gave a little finger-wave to Carlo. "Sorry, but I just got a better offer!"

Carlo gave a heavy, dramatic sigh as the music started up again. "I'll have to find a new random partner in this random bar. What'd your friend look like," he asked Dottie suddenly. "Maybe I should ask him to dance and gay-scare the misogyny right out of him!"

Dottie laughed and Elizabeth scanned the room quickly and pointed him out to Carlo who made his way around the dance floor toward the evening's villain while the two girls fell into the rhythm of the music together.

One song bled into the next, and Faith appeared with them, sans her tall, handsome dance partner. Rosemary and Martin danced by, but soon they were dancing with the group as well, the five of them laughing and moving and dancing to the music, the rest of the world falling away.

~?~?~?~?~

Jack was ready to leave Carson and Doug behind if they didn't shut the hell up and get moving. Rosemary and Elizabeth had said they intended to get to the club at 8:30, shortly after it opened, and he'd hoped to be there around then as well, but Carson and Doug had been playing Call of Duty when he'd arrived and hadn't been willing to shut it down.

They hadn't arrived at the club until nearly 9 it was 9:30 before they made it to the front of the line to pay their cover and get their hands stamped.

The music in the club was loud enough to rattle his teeth, and the place was so busy he could scarcely see three people in front of him.

"The girls are probably waiting at a table!" Doug called.

"The girls are probably dancing!" Jack retorted.

"Without us?" Doug asked.

Jack rolled his eyes. "They wanted to go out to dance," he said. "We're an hour late. You think nobody's asked them to dance in this crowd? Girls that look like that? Be realistic."

"Elizabeth wouldn't have danced with someone else," Carson said. "Don't worry, Jack."

"I'm not worried, and I hope she's dancing," Jack said. "This night was supposed to be about her getting her mind of things. Come on, I think I see her coat at that table over there."

Elizabeth wore a fairly-distinctive pale blue wool peacoat, and when he saw Rosemary's coat in the seat next to it, Jack was sure they had found the right table. The girls were not at it, however, which meant they were probably on the dance floor.

Jack dropped his own brown leather jacket on top of Elizabeth's and started to move through the writhing throng, not bothering to wait for his friends. Whatever he said to Carson- and he hadn't been lying, precisely- now that he was here, he wanted Elizabeth to be dancing with him, not anyone else.

He was a little surprised to find that she was dancing with someone else, but that someone was Faith. The four girls and a tall, slim black man, were all dancing together, grinding and writhing, just as though they were dancing with boys. It was an arresting sight, though Jack tried hard not to think about it too hard.

He got close enough to the group to grab Elizabeth's wrist and pull her slightly away from Faith. She turned and saw him, and her eyes lit with pleasure.

"Jack!" she cried, loud enough that he could hear her over the music, and threw herself into his arms.

He had barely a moment to take her in, but in that instant he noticed that she wasn't wearing pastels as was her habit, but a brief, clinging dress the color of red wine and a pair of black fishnets. Her hair was down, and wild curls stuck to her sweaty face. Her eyes and cheeks were bright with exertion, and she was stunningly beautiful, and sexy as hell.

Once she was in his arms, he registered vaguely that the dress was made of a satiny material, but mostly he noticed that she burned. She'd been dancing constantly for an hour and her body temperature was high, and he was just in from the cold outdoors, and she was like a living coal. She was the embodiment of burning lust.

Even as she hugged him, her hips continued to sway. The shoes she was wearing put her nearly of a height with him, and her pelvis was aligned with his in a way it normally wasn't. Jack closed his eyes. He hadn't expected this when he'd agreed to go dancing with Elizabeth: every movement and touch feeling like a fire in his blood as the music made his bones seem to shake. He knew she lit him like a brand, but he'd hadn't thought of the way it would feel to hold her, move with her, and to know he was allowed.

Elizabeth seemed to have no such compunctions, and leaned back so that she could look at him while continuing to grind her hips against his. Jack wondered if she knew what she was doing, but suspected from the dark look in her eyes that she did.

He put his hands on her waist, his thumbs drawing circles on the soft jut of her hip bones, his palms resting just above the swell of her bottom, and began to move with her.

~?~?~?~?~

Elizabeth leaned back against Jack's chest. She felt like her bones were made of melting wax.

When he had first arrived, Elizabeth had been shocked at how much the very sight of him had set her on fire, but then, as they had begun to dance, it dawned on her that dancing was not entirely unlike sex, and she'd been building up a fire that Jack had set a match to the moment he'd arrived.

One wide-palmed hand was on her stomach, holding her in place against him as Jack rhythmically ground against her bottom, the other hand was moving. First it traveled down her thigh to the hem of her skirt, rucking it up slightly so that the heat of his palm was only separated from the skin of her thigh by her fishnet stockings. He seemed shameless as he drew his hand toward her inner thigh, and then away, causing her core to clench wishing he'd continued up, up, up.

Next his hand did travel up, back up her leg, to her hip, and on up, slowing as he brushed up the side of her breast, making her nipple tighten in desire for a touch, then up farther still, following the line of her arm that she had thrown back to wrap around his neck behind her. He brushed over her armpit as he went- a place almost nobody in Elizabeth's life had ever touched- and the unfamiliar feel made Elizabeth's thighs quake with wanting.

Jack brushed down again, stopping with his hand resting on the bottom of her ribcage, her breast framed in the webbing of his thumb and forefinger as he began to move his other hand instead.

This one went down, straight down the middle of her body until it was resting above her pubis. He pressed her back, insistently. There was no hint of insinuation now, as he pressed his hips agains hers, Elizabeth could feel him hard against her. She sighed and leaned her head back on his shoulder, exposing her neck.

"You look good enough to eat," Jack growled low into her ear, the primal moment affecting his usual good manners. He lowered his head and bit the soft skin at the join of her neck and shoulder, and Elizabeth moaned.

"Elizabeth, if we don't get out of here, I don't know what i'm going to do," Jack said, and his voice was strained, and low, and desperate, and just about the sexiest thing Elizabeth had ever heard.

"Call an Uber to go back to my place," Elizabeth said. "I'll tell Rosemary and Faith where we've gone."

~?~?~?~?~ (AO3-only section)

Elizabeth's bedroom was cool and silent, the opposite of the club. The ride in the Uber back to her house had been one of barely-contained tension. They hadn't touched each other- hadn't so much as looked at each other- for fear of breaking the tension and everything else around them at the same time.

Now they were alone, and Jack wondered if this was how it was always going to be: would they always reach the pivotal moment, only to both be too afraid or awkward to take the next step?

It seemed that Elizabeth had decided the answer to that question, because the moment the door to her bedroom clicked shut behind Jack, she was in his arms, her mouth open and avid on his, hands wandering.

Her mouth was messy, she clearly wasn't giving kissing her whole attention, but neither was Jack as her hands squeezed his shoulders, then traveled down his chest, across his stomach, the muscles of which jumped at her touch, and then to the waistband of his jeans. There she seemed to lose her nerve, because her hands traveled back up, over his pectorals- his nipples tightened as her palms skated over them- to his neck, and then buried themselves in his hair.

One of Jack's hands buried itself in Elizabeth's hair as well, cupping the base of her skull and slowing down her kisses slightly so that they were less wet, less manic, more deliberate. His other hand drifted down over her bottom, slowly rucking up the hem of her skirt until it was high enough that his hand on her bottom could very nearly feel skin. He swayed against her, not quite rutting, but slowly mimicking the grind they had done on the dance floor not fully half an hour before. He'd been hard then, half-hard in the car all the way back to her house, and was now stiff as steel. He wanted Elizabeth like he had wanted little else in his entire life, and she was in his arms, clearly willing, clearly wanting.

Jack wondered how he'd gotten so lucky.

"Jack," Elizabeth gasped as Jack began to move his kisses from her mouth, down her cheek, and over her throat until he reached the mirror of the spot he had bit to such effect in the club before. He continued kissing down until he was bent nearly double, where he could kiss the tops of her breasts. He could see her nipples tight against the fabric of the dress and he wanted badly to kiss them too.

Jack straightened and looked at Elizabeth. Her eyes were shadowy in the low light of her bedroom, but he could see the limitless black of her pupils, wide with lust. He slowly moved his hand down from her hair, to the zipper at the back of her dress. He gripped it and began to pull down, slowly enough that she could object at any time, but she didn't.

When the zipper reached the bottom of the dress, Elizabeth took a short step away from him, dropping her arms from his shoulders so that the dress could fall away from her, revealing that, as he had suspected, she wasn't wearing a bra, only a pair of panty hose and her underwear.

She didn't step toward him again, instead she kicked off her heels and stepped back once, toward her bed. She stopped and looked at him until he followed, then continued the rest of the way. She looked oddly self-conscious as she crawled into the bed. She wouldn't look at him until she had settled herself almost-primly against her pillows. Then she would only look at him shyly from under her lashes, as though afraid that she had done something wrong.

Jack kicked off his shoes and was up on the bed beside her as quickly as he could manage, kissing her mouth until she was relaxed. He kissed her down onto the mattress, pleased with the limited fumbling he'd had to do to get his arms around her.

He stopped kissing as he began to stroke her skin, this new revelation requiring all of his attention. It was soft and pale and warm, and as he touched her, Elizabeth closed her eyes and began to make the loveliest of sounds.

One spot on her side made her squeak in laughter. A brush along the underside of her breast made gooseflesh ripple over her skin. A thumb over her nipple made her sigh, as though he had finally done something right and she was thrilled.

Jack couldn't take it anymore. He pulled his arm out from under Elizabeth's shoulder and rose over her so that she was flat against the mattress. One leg was between hers, and her thigh was pressed right up against his throbbing hard cock.

He kissed her everywhere. First her mouth again for a long, wet time of nipping and slipping tongues. Her hips thrust against his thigh, which also ground her leg against him in a desperate friction that he wanted to tell her to stop, and at the same time, he never wanted to end.

Jack moved from her mouth to her jaw, kissing the underside as Elizabeth panted and whined an inarticulate whimper of desire. Her neck, and the sensitive place just under her ear, he laved with his tongue, and she squeezed her thighs together around his, and his eyes nearly crossed.

Down, until he was kissing the tops of her breasts, then down still further to her nipples. When he closed his lips around the first one, Elizabeth shouted his name, and her hip ground into his so hard that he came without meaning to, inside of his jeans. No time to do more than pant thickly for a second, because Elizabeth was still shifting and whimpering, clearly seeking something that he wasn't quite managing to give her.

"Elizabeth?" Jack said, shifting back slightly and looking up at her. Her eyes were squinched shut. "Sweetheart, what can I do for you? Can I-"

Elizabeth clamped a hand on Jack's ear hard and pulled his face to her breast again. Never one to fail to take a hint, Jack began suckling her nipple in earnest again.

Once she seemed reassured that he was doing that, Elizabeth relaxed her grip on his ear, and found Jack's hand, drawing it down between her legs, right on top of his thigh. She ground against his hand for a moment then, with a sigh that sounded almost disgusted, she plunged her own hand down the front of her underwear and began to work herself.

Jack could feel her- her fingers moved quickly and rhythmically. He shifted his mouth from one nipple to the other on autopilot as the rhythm of Elizabeth's fingers took the majority of his attention.

It barely took thirty seconds before Elizabeth's muscles went tight as a bowstring and she let one high, inarticulate noise out, then went limp as a cooked noodle under Jack's hands.

He held himself still and just barely away from Elizabeth for the space of four long, deep breaths, before she opened her eyes and looked at him.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, looking away. "I got impatient. I should have let you-"

"Don't," Jack said firmly, cutting her off. "Don't ever apologize to me for that. For letting me be a part of that, whatever part it is. That was… amazing. I can't wait to do it again. God, Elizabeth, I love you so much."

He realized, suddenly, that he hadn't said it yet. All they'd done that evening, and he hadn't told her how much he loved her. He felt suddenly ashamed.

"I love you too, Jack. Uhm… did you…?" Elizabeth said, trailing off vaguely, but making the question plain with a quick glance at the front of his jeans and a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," he said with a grimace. "I'm a bit of a mess now. I'll get cleaned up before I go, if you don't mind."

"Go?" Elizabeth said, sitting up and looking shocked. "I thought… don't you want to stay?"

Jack looked at her, shocked. "Of course I want to stay," he said. "I just… you want me to stay?"

"Of course I do! That's why I brought you over: to stay the night. We can't… I don't have any condoms so we can't… go all the way," she said, grimacing at the euphemism, but also acknowledging her own inability to say the words, "but I intended for you to stay the night. You can wear your boxers or a t-shirt, or whatever you usually wear to bed."

This time of year, given how cold it was, Jack usually wore flannel pajamas, but he thought Elizabeth could keep him just as toasty as his usual PJs.

He leaned down and kissed Elizabeth's mouth again, unable to express the volume of emotion he felt in that moment any other way.

"I would love to stay," he said, and kissed her again.


End file.
